diff --git a/us_atrocities.md b/us_atrocities.md index bfa47fe..a6a004a 100644 --- a/us_atrocities.md +++ b/us_atrocities.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ - * [Notes](#notes) +* [Notes](#notes) - [Imperialism](#imperialism) * [Middle East](#middle-east) * [Western hemisphere](#western-hemisphere) @@ -43,10 +43,10 @@ ### Middle East -- On March 21st, 2017, A US airstrike [killed at least 30 Syrian civilians](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/at-least-30-dead-after-air-strike-hits-syrian-school-1.3020369) in an airstrike on a school in the Raqqa province. The week before, 49 people were killed when US warplanes fired on a target in [Al Jinah](https://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_location=Al%20Jinah&article=true), a village in western [Aleppo](https://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_location=Aleppo&article=true) province. US officials said the attack had hit a building where al-Qaeda operatives were meeting, but residents said the warplanes had struck a mosque where hundreds of people had gathered for a weekly religious meeting. [1](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/at-least-30-dead-after-air-strike-hits-syrian-school-1.3020369) +- On April 4th, 2017, following the [Khan_Shaykhun_chemical_attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Shaykhun_chemical_attack), Trump ordered an airstrike of 59 tomahawk cruise missiles(worth $70 million) fired at the Shayrat air base in Syria(one that Trump claims is the source of the chemical attack) in the [2017 Shayrat Missile Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike). This is the first attack by the US directly targeting [Ba'athist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Socialist_Ba%27ath_Party_%E2%80%93_Syria_Region) [Syrian government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_government) forces, who are closely allied with Russia. Russian Prime Minister [Dimitry Medvedev](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitry_Medvedev) said the attack brought the U.S. "within an inch" of clashing with the Russian military, and could've sparked a nuclear war. The attack was praised by US politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well >30 countries. Over 700 children have been killed US coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since August 2014. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_missile_strike) +- On March 21st, 2017, A US airstrike [killed at least 30 Syrian civilians](https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/at-least-30-dead-after-air-strike-hits-syrian-school-1.3020369) in an airstrike on a school in the Raqqa province. The week before, 49 people were killed when US warplanes fired on a target in in the [2017 al-Jinah airstrike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_al-Jinah_airstrike), a village in western [Aleppo](https://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_location=Aleppo&article=true) province. US officials said the attack had hit a building where al-Qaeda operatives were meeting, but residents said the warplanes had struck a mosque where hundreds of people had gathered for a weekly religious meeting. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_al-Jinah_airstrike) - On March 17th, 2017, A US airstrike killed ~112 civilians in Mosul, Iraq. In response, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said, "There is no military force in the world that is proven more sensitive to civilian casualties." [1](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/middleeast/mosul-civilian-deaths/) - On February 15th, 2017, US-backed Saudi planes [bombed a funeral](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/15/yemen-funeral-saudi-led-airstrike-houthi-insurgents) in Yemen, killing 5 women and wounding dozens more. In the [2015 - Present Yemeni Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%93present)), 16,200 people have been killed including 10,000 civilians, 3 million have been displaced and left homeless, and over 200,000 people are facing shortages of food, water and medicine. The US has used drone bombers in Yemen, and has supported Saudi interests in the region, with military contracts providing weapons and planes. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(2015%E2%80%93present)),[2](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/15/yemen-funeral-saudi-led-airstrike-houthi-insurgents) - - In 2010, President Obama [directed the CIA](http://www.salon.com/2010/04/07/assassinations_2/) to [assassinate an American citizen](https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-american-in-yemen-trump-just-killed-his-8-year-old-sister/) in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki, despite the fact that he had never been charged with any crime, killing him [with a September, 2011 drone strike](https://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2011/sep/30/anwar-al-awlaki-yemen-live). Two weeks later, a separate CIA drone strike in Yemen [killed his 16-year-old American-born son](http://www.salon.com/2011/10/20/the_killing_of_awlakis_16_year_old_son/), Abdulrahman, along with the boy’s 17-year-old cousin and several other innocent Yemenis. In January 2017, Trump ordered a SEAL strike, and reports from Yemen [quickly surfaced](http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-yemen-qaeda-idUKKBN15D094) that 30 people were killed, including 10 women and children. Among the dead: the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar Awlaki, brother of the 16 year old killed by Obama. [1](https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-american-in-yemen-trump-just-killed-his-8-year-old-sister/) - Since 2013, The US has intervened militarily in the ongoing [Syrian Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Civil_War#Western_coalition), with airstrikes, naval bombardments, and funding and training Syrian Islamic and secular insurgents fighting to topple the Syrian government. Many have labeled the struggle as a proxy war between US and Russian interests in the middle east, in a highly unstable region. Between 500-700 civilians [have been killed by coalition airstrikes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_Syria#cite_note-airwars.org-328), and over 50,000 [ISIL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant) militants and pro-bashad fighters have been killed. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_Syria) - From 2011 up to the present day, the US ousted Mummar Gaddafi in Libya, and began conducting an extensive bombing campaign(>110 tomahawk cruise missiles) in the [Libyan Civil Wars of 2011 and 2014](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2014%E2%80%93present)). This includes 7,700 air strikes, resulting in 30,000 -100,000 deaths. Loyalist towns were bombed to rubble and ethnically cleansed, and the country is in chaos as Western-trained and armed Islamist militias seize territory and oil facilities and vie for power. The Misrata militia, trained and armed by Western special forces, is one of the most violent and powerful in the world.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2014%E2%80%93present)) @@ -302,22 +302,15 @@ ### Latinos +- Beginning in 1994, sheriff [Joe Arpaio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio) opened up a "tent city", outside of phoenix, a facility which he called, his own "personal concentration camp", used to house prisoners, in terrible conditions. In 2011, inmates complained that fans near their beds were not working, and that their shoes were melting from the heat.[[45\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio#cite_note-45) During the summer of 2003, when outside temperatures exceeded 110 °F (43 °C), Arpaio said to complaining inmates, "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths!". Arpaio reinstuted chain gangs(for female prisoners as well), forcing people to work 7 hours a day, 7 days a week. Arpaio also entrapped 18-year-old James Saville into an assassination attempt against himself. Saville's attorneys eventually discovered that MCSO detectives had bought the bomb parts themselves, then convinced Saville to build it even though he was not predisposed to commit such a crime. On July 9, 2003, a Maricopa County Superior Court jury acquitted Saville, finding that the bomb plot was an elaborate publicity stunt to boost Arpaio's reelection bid. On April 4th, 2017, newly elected Phoenix sheriff Paul Penzone finally closed it down due to public pressure, after 23 years of operation. [1](http://www.abc15.com/news/state/paul-penzone-to-shut-down-tent-city-after-decades-of-operation) - On March 25th-27th, 2017, ICE agents [arrested 84 immigrants](http://www.kgw.com/news/local/ice-arrests-84-people-during-3-day-sweep-of-pacific-northwest/426890395) in Oregon and Washington. Many arrested had no criminal background. [Oregon Governor Katie Brown](https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/847529947899904000) complied with ICE, but received vitriolic responses when she [tweeted in support](https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/847529947899904000) of immigrant families. [1](http://www.kgw.com/news/local/ice-arrests-84-people-during-3-day-sweep-of-pacific-northwest/426890395) - - On March 27th, 2017, ICE agents in Chicago broke into the home of [Felix Torres](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/unarmed-legal-resident-in-critical-condition-after-ice-agents-raided-chicago-home-and-shot-him-family/), and shot him while he and his family slept in their home. After speaking with Torres’ daughter, [the People’s Response Team added](https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesResponseTeam/photos/a.724838781005672.1073741828.724231234399760/765074203648796/?type=3&theater) that “no members of the family are undocumented, and the family has lived in the home for at least 30 years.”Carmen Torres said, “They didn’t say anything. They just came in and pointed pistols in our faces and dragged us out,” [DNA Info reported](https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170327/belmont-cragin/police-shoot-wound-person-belmont-cragin). “It’s a lie when they say he was holding a gun. He doesn’t even own a gun,” she said. “They shot my dad. They shot him, and I don’t know why.” He is in critical condition. [1](http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/unarmed-legal-resident-in-critical-condition-after-ice-agents-raided-chicago-home-and-shot-him-family/) - - In early 2017, ICE began a [campaign of arrests and deportation](https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/ice-arrested-nearly-700-people-last-week-advocates-are-bracing-for-more-to-come/) of undocumented immigrants. 700 People have been arrested so far. [1](https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/ice-arrested-nearly-700-people-last-week-advocates-are-bracing-for-more-to-come/) - - In the present day, [ICE(U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement#Case_samples), the police tasked with immigration enforcement, operates over 200 prison camps, housing over 31,000 undocumented people deemed "aliens", 20,000 of which have no criminal convictions, in the US [system of immigration detention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_United_States#Criticisms). [The camps](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/reyes-immigration-detention/) include forced labor(often with [contracts from private companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement#Corporate_contracts)), poor conditions, lack of rights(since the undocumented aren't considered citizens), and forced deportations, often splitting up families. Detainees are often held for a year without trial, with antiquated court procedures pushing back court dates for months, encouraging many to accept immediate deportation in the hopes of being able to return faster than the court can reach a decision, but forfeiting legal status, in a cruel system of coercion. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_United_States#Criticisms), [2](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/reyes-immigration-detention/) - - In 1996, in response to increased immigration from countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala ravaged by US imperialism and authoritarian dictatorships, the US passed the [Anti-Terrorism and effective Death Penalty Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiterrorism_and_Effective_Death_Penalty_Act_of_1996), allowing deportation of any immigrant ever convicted of a crime, no matter how long ago or how serious. Lawful permanent residents who had married Americans and now had children were not exempt. The *New York Times* reported in July that "hundreds of long-term legal residents have been arrested since the law passed." [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiterrorism_and_Effective_Death_Penalty_Act_of_1996) - - By 1984, during the Reagan-era of social services and welfare cutbacks, 42% of all Latino children and one-fourth of the families lived below the poverty line. - - In 1983, a mostly latino workforce lead the 3-year long [Arizona Copper Mine Strike of 1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983), in which the police, national guard, and Arizona governor assisted in one of the largest strikebreaking incidents of the 1980s, ending with the [Phelps Dodge Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phelps_Dodge_Corporation) replacing most of the workers and decertifying the unions. Miners were subject to [undercover surveillance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance) by the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency, to identify strikers engaged in violence, with the governor sending 325 National Guard soldiers to Morenci, and increasing the number of state policemen there to 425. Meanwhile, the local government passed [injunctions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction) limiting both picketing and demonstrations at the mine. The Arizona copper mine strike would later become a symbol of defeat for American unions. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_copper_mine_strike_of_1983) - - In 1954, the US implemented [Operation Wetback](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback), a US law enforcement initiative under Eisenhower to curb Mexican immigration, in which over 1 Million Mexicans were arrested. After implementation, Operation Wetback gave rise to arrests and deportations by the [U.S. Border Patrol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Border_Patrol) that were civil rights violations, which resulted in several hundred United States citizens being illegally deported without being given a chance to prove their citizenship. A total of 750 immigration and border patrol officers and investigators; 300 jeeps, cars and buses; and seven airplanes were allocated for the operation.[[28\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback#cite_note-28) Teams were focused on quick processing, as planes were able to coordinate with ground efforts and quickly deport people into Mexico.[[29\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback#cite_note-ngai156-29) While the operation included the cities of [Los Angeles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles), [San Francisco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco), and [Chicago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago), its main targets were border areas in [Texas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas) and [California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California).[[29\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback#cite_note-ngai156-29) Overall, there were 1,078,168 apprehensions made in the first year of Operation Wetback, with 170,000 being rounded up from May to July 1954. In addition, many illegal immigrants fled to Mexico fearing arrest; over half a million from Texas alone. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback) - - In 1951, the Los Angeles Police Department severely beat up 5 latino and 2 white men, in an event called [Bloody Christmas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Christmas_(1951)), leaving them with broken bones and ruptured organs, and covered it up. After pressure from the Mexican-American community, the LAPD opened up an internal inquiry, resulting in eight [police officers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_officers) being indicted for the assaults, 54 being transferred, and 39 suspended.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Christmas_(1951))