If you don't support Obama, you'll kill him

So this is goodbye from me. At least for a while. I wish you all the best and i'll pray for Obama's safety every day, because i've seen first hand how tragic can be the end of a visionary and forward-looking leader, when right wing lunatics decide to eliminate him and the left leaves him all alone.

- Daily Kos diarist, blackwaterdog

[insert heavy sigh here]

It was bad enough when, during the campaign, people who criticized Obamalama were labeled "racists". Now, you are basically the one holding the gun to his head if you voice your opposition to his policies which, contrary to the laundry list of hyped-up crap in that diary, have been anything near "progressive".

But the Leave Obama Alone! crowd can't deal with reality hitting them in the face. Too much "doom and gloom", they say - as if it's all about how their poor feelings are getting hurt. Maybe they should sit down for a face to face with the families of the dead in Iraq and Afghanistan and talk "feelings". Maybe they should have a face to face with those who've been tortured who won't see any justice done by this administration and talk "feelings". Maybe they should have a face to face with people who are dying from a lack of proper health care and talk "feelings".

But, no. If the "left" (whatever is left of the left in the US surely isn't in this Democratic party) abandons the Spelunker-in-Chief (I coined that term) who never met a cave he didn't like - he's as good as dead.

We joke about the insanity of the wingnuts who are showing up, completely misinformed while embarrassing themselves to no end, to the health care town halls. Pelosi and Hoyer have called their rabble-rousing "un-American". (Them's fighting words.) Meanwhile, the so-called "left" on blogs like Daily Kos - who loudly cheered the protests in Iran while posts about US protests for universal health care on the site faded quietly into oblivion - can't even bring themselves to get their asses off their chairs to get out there to fight for their rights in their country. No. Obama told them to write their congresspeople (because that's so effective, isn't it?).

Conservatives typically despise unruliness. Oh how they hated the 60s. And this centrist bunch of self-identified "pragmatic" Dems - who also chided every attempt by groups like Code Pink to bring attention to the horrific wrongs perpetrated by Bushco (and now continued by Obama's administration) - are stuck standing by while the right-wingers ironically claim the radical mantle of very public dissent. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Rahm Emanuel says that "Dems attacking other Dems are 'fucking stupid'". This, in the middle of a seriously muddled attempt to roll out a bill that the Dems have absolutely failed to explain.

Obama kicks the issue back to congress. But, because he believes he is the face of absolutely everything (and haven't you felt like selling your teevee too by now?), he owns this mess. And he owns the fact that the wingnuts are having an absolute field day (death panels, anyone?).

He owns every single bad policy decision his government has enacted since he's been in office. He wants to own it all. How many times have you seen one of his cabinet secretaries in the media explaining his policies? Does anybody even know who they are?

And, as has been noted ad nauseum by people who are actually in touch with reality on the real left and who won't be guilted into backing off from criticizing him because of ridiculous claims like the one made by the above-quoted Daily Kos diarist, Obama has committed a slough of very non-progressive missteps. He's only been in office 7 months!, they proclaim. As if he's going to change his very character and wake up one morning soon to unleash his hidden inner liberal. Or maybe, they hope, Michelle will make him do it. (No, really. Some have actually said that.)

Read my lips: that's not going to happen.

The Hopeyness train has left the station and it took the Changeyness policies with it.

You just can't call the wingnuts crazy while making equally crazy statements yourself.

If you can't stand the much-deserved criticism, refresh, refresh, refresh and leave the rest of us alone.

 

Burma, Bush and Oil

As the situation in Burma worsens, the White House is once again placing itself as the moral authority of the world but the Bush regime has hardly been a beacon of light when it comes to allowing citizens their right to peacefully protest. The most that can be said is at least their thugs haven't killed anybody, as has happened in Burma.

Via Thursday's WH press briefing and this statement read on behalf of Bush, spot the contradiction:

I call on all nations that have influence with the regime to join us in supporting the aspirations of the Burmese people and to tell the Burmese Junta to cease using force on its own people who are peacefully expressing their desire for change. By its own account, the Junta has already killed at least nine non-violent demonstrators, and many others who have been injured and arrested as they seek to express their views peacefully. I urge the Burmese soldiers and police not to use force on their fellow citizens. I call on those who embrace the values of human rights and freedom to support the legitimate demands of the Burmese people."

Let's take a little trip back to the 2004 RNC protests in NYC:

Numerous troubling cases were reported, notably:

* A 15-year-old diabetic girl on her way to a movie was arrested. [39]
* A former vice president of Morgan Stanley was arrested while riding her bicycle. [39]
* A 16-year-old protestor was lost to her mother for two days, even though her mother knew about and supported her daughter's participation. [40]
* Small pens were used to contain "30 to 40 people" at once. [41]
* Many people were detained longer than 24 hours on relatively trivial charges. [42][43] One was a 23-year-old Montreal student arrested for disorderly conduct and released three days later. "He says he spent a total of 57 hours between the pier and Central Booking, during which time he says he was moved 14 times and repeatedly handcuffed and shackled to other protesters as young as 15." [37]

The City reportedly refused to release the prisoners until a judge threatened to fine it for every extra hour every prisoner would spend in prison. The victims of the arrests have filed lawsuits against the City of New York.

One of the most prominent personalities arrested was Eric Corley "Emmanuel Goldstein", an important advocate of public rights and independent medias, and editor of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly [38]. The complete report of 2600 is available at http://www.2600.com/rnc2004/[39].

Several cases have since gone to court, and it has come out that the charges of resisting arrest in those cases were completely fabricated. Video evidence was shown of defendants complying peaceably with police demands. Many of the cases have since been summarily dismissed.

The New York Times has reported on two occasions that the police videotaped and infiltrated protests, as well as acting as agents provocateurs during the protests. [44]

A second citation: "City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention," Jim Dwyer, New York Times, March 25, 2007, Sunday, Late Edition - Final, Section 1, Page 1, Column 5, 2460 words.

Agents provocateurs infiltrate a protest dressed like protesters and try to change the character of the protest, such as by attempting to get the crowd to commit acts of violence or other acts that would incite the uniformed police to take action against the crowd, thereby falsely justifying violence against protesters. Such covert provocation can also change the wider public's perception of what happened at a protest.

In addition, the New York Times reported that prior to the protests, NYPD officers traveled as far away as Europe and spied on people there who planned to protest at the RNC. [44]

And that's only one example of the Bush regime's disdain for peaceful protests.

While the WH attempts to use freedom in America as an example of how regimes should operate, it was revealed in August that it actually has a detailed manual on how to "deal" with protesters. The only thing missing is the actual use of firepower.

As for what Bush actually plans to do to affect the situation there:

Q But what could he do to make the members of the military regime listen? They haven't listened for 19 years.

MS. PERINO: Sanctions have worked in the past in other places. We're going to try to tighten those and make them stronger and stricter so that they have to have -- so that they have some effect that will hopefully force an action.

In addition, what the President can do is use this podium and his bully pulpit in order to shine a bright spotlight on this problem, so that the rest of the world can help -- and can come along and try to help us.

And that's about all he'll do. Anything beyond that would mean dealing directly with China (which is busy crushing the dissent of schoolboys in Tibet) and the fact that China owns massive amounts of American debt which it could leverage at any time to severely impact the US economy, practically ensures that the WH will not entangle itself in Burma's affairs to any extent that might have an impact. And that's not the only consideration for the Bush regime.

The courageous monks and the Burmese people are on their own while the world watches - as much as it can, since coverage of the protests in being channeled through underground sources. On a broader scale, it's been widely reported that the current protests began, in part, as a reaction to higher fuel prices. If there's one thing the Bush regime actually could do that might have an effect in Burma, it would be to stop pursuing and pillaging the world's oil resources. The west's "addiction to oil" obviously has very far-reaching consequences. And the Bush administration's thirst for oil has also spread directly into Burma:

Even in Burma, however, Bush’s support for human rights yields to his fondness for the oil and gas industry. Burma has large natural gas reserves, and multinational oil corporations want to cash in. Chevron Corporation is currently the largest U.S. investor in Burma, with a partnership stake in the multi-billion-dollar Yadana gas pipeline project. The Yadana project was originally developed by Unocal, another American oil company, which was acquired by Chevron last year. (Although new investment in Burma is prohibited, the pipeline is grandfathered in under an exception, pushed by Unocal, for preexisting projects.)

The Yadana pipeline has been repeatedly condemned by human rights and environmental advocates as one of the most destructive “development” projects in the world. The Burmese military government is a direct partner in the project, and Burmese soldiers providing security and other services to the pipeline project have conscripted villagers for forced labor on a vast scale, as well as committing murder, rape and torture. These abuses have been widely acknowledged; before Bush took office, the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that “refugee accounts of forced labor” on the project “appear to be credible.”

The Bush administration has close ties to Chevron. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was a member of the Chevron Board of Directors for 10 years before Bush was elected, and even had a Chevron oil tanker named for her until it was quietly renamed after Bush took office. And Halliburton, the oilfield services giant formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, has numerous ties to Chevron, signing several multimillion-dollar contracts during Cheney’s tenure. And yet there is no evidence that the Bush administration has used its connections to convince Chevron to divest its Burmese holdings, despite the evidence of abuses committed on the Yadana project and Bush’s public position on promoting human rights and democracy.

Indeed, even before Chevron acquired Unocal and the Yadana project, Bush’s government actively took steps to thwart accountability for the Yadana project. When refugees who had suffered rape, torture, enslavement, and murder at the hands of soldiers protecting the Yadana pipeline sued Unocal in U.S. court, the Bush administration intervened to try to convince the courts that the lawsuit should not proceed. The administration essentially argued that, even if the case would not actually interfere with U.S. relations with Burma, holding Unocal liable would create a precedent that could conflict with U.S. foreign policy in other parts of the world. (The lawsuit, Doe v. Unocal Corp., was ultimately resolved before the courts considered the administration's position, with Unocal compensating the victims in a historic settlement—see http://www.earthrights.org/legal/unocal/.)

So, Bush can bluster all he wants to about human rights and the need for the protesters to be protected, but he's talking out of both sides of his mouth yet again - all in the name of oil.

Related:
9 Killed in Burma Crackdown on Protests

Human Rights Watch - Burma: Allies Should Call for Peaceful Resolution of Protests

Amnesty International - Myanmar authorities step up crackdown on protesters (text, video and a list of supportive protests being held worldwide this weekend)

Time magazine - Will China Intervene?
 

Quebec Police Admit Infiltrating the SPP Protests

The true north strong and infiltrated.

Earlier this week, video of SPP protesters clashing with alleged "infiltrators" at the so-called Security & Prosperity Partnership summit in Montebello, Quebec was made publicly available on YouTube™. Immediate denials of police infiltration were issued by the Surete du Quebec and the RCMP.

The Mounties and the SQ, the two police forces involved in summit security, continued to refuse specific comment on three alleged undercover officers caught on camera in an apparent bid to incite a confrontation.

But they denied using agents to provoke violence.

"I confirm (to) you that there are no agents provocateurs in the Surete du Quebec. . . It doesn't exist in the Surete du Quebec," said Const. Melanie Larouche.

On Thursday, the Surete reversed course and admitted it had infiltrators at the protest:

QUEBEC - Quebec's provincial police acknowledged in a statement Thursday that their agents had infiltrated protesters demonstrating during the recent North American leaders summit in Montebello, Que., but denied that they acted as "agent provocateurs".

"They had the mandate to spot and identify violent demonstrators to avoid the situation from getting out of hand," the Surete du Quebec said in a statement. "The police officers were identified by demonstrators when they refused to throw projectiles."

That last statement is patently false.

Watch the video:

"At no time did the Surete du Quebec police officers act as agents provocateurs or commit criminal acts," the statement adds.

Wrong again.

As the article continues:

The video shows the three black-clad bandana-wearing men being singled out by union organizers and the crowd. Other protesters started pointing at them and crying "police."

One of the three men is seen shoving and swearing at Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada, who is angrily confronting the trio, demanding they put down the rocks, remove their bandanas, and identify themselves.

After being backed into a corner against a line of provincial police officers in riot gear, they try to force themselves through the police line and are arrested while the crowd cheers.

I'm sure that once the Surete realized there had been calls for a public inquiry along with escalating requests to have the arrest records of those provocateurs released, it knew the game was over.

The fact that it wasn't enough for summit security to insultingly create "free speech zones" out of the site of Bush, Calderon, and Harper and that a court decided to issue a "compromise" aka "Protest TV" which was supposed to comfort protesters by mandating that TV sets in the Chateau would broadcast video of the protests for the leaders to watch if they chose to shows just how much our speech is being stifled in this country. Our arrogant leaders even refused to allow the delivery of opposition petitions at the summit, treating citizens as mere hysterical peasants.

During the final SPP press conference, Bush joked about so-called "conspiracy theories" about the summit (and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux echoed that slur). What, exactly, is the public supposed to think when North American leaders meet behind closed doors with 30 corporate CEOs and refuse to openly inform the public about the content of those meetings? That's the issue - the secrecy - along with the fact that business and political leaders are setting policy about the future of North America without any input from the citizens.

That's not democracy.

You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to demand transparency and to know something is wrong when it isn't provided.

Related: For more information about the history of the SPP concerns, visit the site of the Council of Canadians.

Watch the CBC news story about the Surete's admission of police infiltration:



Update: Our so-called Public Safety minister is clueless and in denial (as usual). (h/t penlan)

This really could be a Monty Python skit:

Public Security Minister Stockwell Day continued to brush of questions about a call for a public inquiry, saying in Vancouver that those with complaints can make a formal complaint.

"The thing that was interesting in this particular incident, three people in question were spotted by protesters because [sic] were not engaging in violence," Mr. Day said.

"They were being encouraged to throw rocks and they were not throwing rocks, it was the protesters who were throwing the rocks. That's the irony of this," Mr. Day said.

Mr. Day added the actions were substantiated by the video that he has seen of the protests.

"Because they were not engaging in violence, it was noted that they were probably not protesters. I think that's a bit of an indictment against the violent protesters," Mr. Day said.

 

Sheehan and 45 Other Protesters Arrested in DC

Cindy Sheehan announced a few weeks ago that she would give house speaker Nancy Pelosi until July 23rd to put impeachment back on the table or Sheehan would run against her as an independent. During protests at Jonn Conyer's (D-MI) senate office today, Sheehan formally announced her candidacy.

She and 45 other protesters were also arrested (pics here). You'll see that outspoken Bush administration critic and former CIA officer Ray McGovern was arrested as well along with Colonel Ann Wright and Cindy Sheehan's sister, Dede.

Sheehan was taken into custody inside Rep. John Conyers' office, where she had spent an hour imploring him to launch impeachment proceedings against Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Conyers, D-Mich., chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would have to begin.

"The Democrats will not hold this administration accountable, so we have to hold the Democrats accountable," Sheehan said outside of Conyers' office after the meeting. "And I for one am going to step up to the plate and run against Nancy Pelosi."

Sheehan and about 200 other protesters had walked to Conyers' office from Arlington National Cemetery. She said Conyers told her there weren't enough votes for impeachment to move forward on the issue.

Forty-five of Sheehan's fellow protesters also were arrested. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said that after they are processed, the arrested activists could each pay a $50 fine to be released.

"Impeachment is not a fringe movement, it is mandated in our Constitution. Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table," Sheehan told her group of orange-clad activists before they began their march from the national cemetery.

That "we don't have the votes" canard has angered many online Democrats who have reminded their party leaders that when impeachment investigations began against Nixon, the Democrats didn't have the votes either. It's an empty response to a hugely important concern of the majority of Democrats (and millions of Americans) who want hearings to begin now to investigate the wrongdoing crimes perpetrated by the Bush administration.

Sheehan has been completely marginalized at Daily Kos (as she was again on Monday during the protest) and no longer posts at that large Democratic (party comes first!) blog hub (which has become an unbearably thuggish snake pit), but she obviously doesn't need their support to keep up her fight anyway. She's doing just fine.

She relentlessly continues (in spite of all of the venomous criticism she's received) to be the public voice of outrage against the Iraq war and this criminal administration. She gets out there and puts herself in peril in order to act on behalf of all ordinary American citizens who have been so gravely affected by Bushco's policies and many are thankful for the face she's given to the right to dissent.

She and all who protested with her today did their duty as citizens - refusing to sit back and wait for the Democrats to take action - any action - to hold Bushco responsible for at least something...one thing...is that too much to ask? Apparently so. Their refusal to do so is shameful.

Cindy now blogs at ImpeachBush.org. Please support her efforts.

(By the way, some Democratic party members are so desperate to believe that their leaders will do the right thing that they just make shit up about their "brilliant", "genius" leaders and try to sell it to others who, apparently, are quite willing to buy it. That's quite pathetic to watch. They ought to do much more than to tell each other fairy tales so they can actually crack that dangerous state of denial. It's bad enough that Bush lives in that world. It really is something to see members of the so-called "reality-based" community falling for that kind of self-deception too.)
 

Protester Assaulted in Westminster Abbey

LONDON – Within spitting distance of the Queen and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a lone black protester today eluded tight security at Westminster Abbey to denounce the national commemorative service to mark the end of the Atlantic slave trade of Africans 200 years ago.

“This is a disgrace to our ancestors,” shouted the protester, jabbing his finger at Queen Elizabeth and Blair. “Millions of our ancestors are in the Atlantic.”

The man identified as Toyin Agbetu ground the church service to a halt and stunned a crowd of 2,000 gathered in the most famous protestant cathedral in the world.

He got to within three metres of the Queen, who sat emotionless with Prince Phillip at her side. Church officials and several black worshippers surrounded the man, wrestling him to the ground but quickly unhanded him as he shouted, “Let go of me.”

“This is an insult,” the man said, urging the large throng of blacks in the crowd to walk out of the commemorative service, organized by the Church of England, which itself owned some 600 slaves on Caribbean plantations.

Johnny Hogg, a descendant of William Wilberforce, the most famous of the abolitionists who pushed the British Parliament to end the slave trade in 1807, was one seat over from the protester when he rose in the middle of a prayer.

“This is a public relations disaster on a day like today,” Hogg said. “Four white people wrestling a black guy to the ground is not what you want (in news clips and pictures),” he said.

... "a public relations disaster". Yes, because PR is always the most important consideration when things like this happen, right? And notice how the article begins with the characterization of the man being "within spitting distance" of the queen, as if he was a physical threat to her.

Some things just never change...
 

Enough Already!

So, I'm up at the ungodly hour of 4:45 am this morning because I can barely breath due to this sinus/chest/head cold I have and I flip on CNN - just to make sure the apocalypse didn't happen when I was sleeping. It's the regular early morning drivel - no rapture yet - until the familiar "JUST IN" pops up on the screen.

The anchor woman (I don't know which one - they all seem to look the same these days) announces that 6 people have been killed in yet another chlorine truck suicide bombing in Iraq and hundreds are being treated for inhaling noxious fumes. "We'll have more for you when we get more details", she goes on.

And then...and then...wait for it..."In other news, Anna Nicole Smith blah blah blah..."

It would have done my aching head good had it really been able to explode at that moment. Who the fuck cares about Anna Nicole Smith?? And how can you so cavalierly segue from a story about hundreds of people now suffering from chlorine poisoning in Iraq to that old, stale, tired, totally uninteresting story about a woman who died weeks ago? Who cares? She's dead. Move on already.

This weekend marks a grim anniversay. It's been 4 years since the horror of "shock & awe" set off what looks like an endless war in a country that has now been ripped to shreds; hundreds of thousands dead; so many wounded; so many displaced; so many children scarred for life; so many still living in absolute fear and chaos; news today that almost one third of the Iraqi children are suffering from malnutrition.

Vatican City – Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Iraq say that malnutrition rates have risen in Iraq from 19 percent before the US-led invasion to a national average of 28 percent four years later.

Caritas says that rising hunger has been caused by high levels of insecurity, collapsed healthcare and other infrastructure, increased polarisation between different sects and tribes, and rising poverty.

Over 11 percent of newborn babies are born underweight in Iraq today, compared with a figure of 4 percent in 2003. Before March 2003, Iraq already had significant infant mortality due to malnutrition because of the international sanctions regime.

Why isn't that on CNN?

There will be several antiwar protests around the world this weekend. On Friday nite, thousands of Christians protested in DC and many were arrested. Where's your coverage of that, CNN? Or is all of this just too embarassing for the colonial empire culture to face? It's so much easier to drone on about some dead, blonde woman, isn't it? Someone should really do a count of the hundreds of hours you've dedicated to dead and missing white, blonde women on your network compared to the coverage you've given to starving Iraq kids.

Seriously. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
 

Random News & Views Roundup

- Money, money, who's got the missing Iraq billions? Well, how about the former Iraqi minister of defence who's now living the cushy life in Britain? (h/t New Fake Name)

- Janet of Peace Gone Wild has drawn my attention to the recent protests in Tacoma, Washington. Portland Indymedia has ongoing coverage and here are links to two videos showing the riot squad treatment the protesters have received from the police there: here and here. Flashbacks of Kent State. You won't see that on CNN.

- Think it's a coincidence that the Pentagon released a transcript of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed supposedly confessing to over two dozen terrorist attacks at a military tribunal hearing (hearing transcript, pdf file) in the midst of the Alberto Gonzales meltdown? Think again. (Ironically, I'm watching the movie Midnight Express again as I write this. Torture: it's not just for Turkish prisons anymore.)

- The Democrats (and many Republicans) actually did something useful in congress on Wednesday:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brushing aside a veto threat, the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to overturn a 2001 order by President George W. Bush that lets former presidents keep their papers secret indefinitely.

The measure, which drew bipartisan support and passed by a veto-busting 333-93 margin, was among White House-opposed bills the House passed that would widen access to government information and protect government whistleblowers.

The presidential papers bill nullifies a November 2001 order, criticized by historians, in which Bush allowed the White House or a former president to block release of a former president's papers and put the onus on researchers to show a "specific need" for many types of records.

Among beneficiaries of the Bush order was Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, a former vice president and president.

What's daddy Bush hiding?

- It looks like the Bush administration is going to get its wish for tougher sanctions on Iran.

The modest package of new measures agreed to by the ambassadors of the six countries includes an embargo on Iranian arms exports and an asset freeze on more individuals and companies associated with Tehran's nuclear and missile programs, council diplomats said.

The new resolution would also call on all U.N. member states to exercise "vigilance and restraint" on arms imports and on the entry or transit through their territory of Iranians subject to the asset freeze, a council diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the text has not been circulated.

It would also call on governments to make no new commitments "of grants, financial assistance, or concesssional loans to the government of Iran," the diplomat said.

The United States and the Europeans would certainly favor tougher sanctions, but knew they had to settle for less to ensure that Russia and China, which have close commercial ties with Iran, will not use their veto power to block a resolution.

- On the same day that delusional Joe Lieberman said, "What's happening in Iraq today does not look like failure to me", comes the news that attacks in Iraq have hit an all-time high. How does Joe sleep at nite? Quite well, apparently.

- Interested in the power of the Israel lobby in the United States? Read this piece in The American Conservative, Bloggers vs. the Lobby and stop being afraid to talk about it. Related: Holy Warriors Set Sights on Iran.

- Why didn't the US give Israel's government up to the minute drafts on the UN resolution to end the Lebanon war last year? A story in Ha'aretz reports:

The U.S. government failed to give Israel all the drafts of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ending last summer's Lebanon war in real time, so Israel had to obtain some of the documents from other sources, Israeli government sources said.

The sources, however, said senior government officials ultimately did get all the drafts in time, and there were no delays or information gaps that impeded decision-making during the war.

According to some sources, Israel obtained the drafts not supplied by the Americans from intelligence sources.

This is the most troubling part:

In particular, the second-to-last draft, which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert received on the morning of August 11, seemed to him much less favorable than the version on which he and Washington had agreed the previous night.

He later said this draft convinced him to launch a major ground operation during the war's final days in an effort to influence the Security Council. During these three days of fighting, 33 soldiers were killed.

So, Olmert didn't like what he saw coming and decided to up the military might? And to what end? More deaths. I'm sure the families of the dead will be comforted to know that they were used as political pawns.

- Horrid:

U.S. allies in Africa may have engaged in secret prisoner renditions

NAIROBI, Kenya - A network of U.S. allies in East Africa secretly have transferred to prisons in Somalia and Ethiopia at least 80 people who were captured in Kenya while fleeing the recent war in Somalia, according to human rights advocates here.

Kenyan authorities made the arrests as part of a U.S.-backed, four-nation military campaign in December and January against Somalia's Islamist militias, which Bush administration officials have linked to al-Qaida.

At least 150 prisoners, who included men and women of 17 nationalities and children as young as 7 months, were held in Kenya for several weeks before most of them were transferred covertly to Somalia and Ethiopia, where they're being held incommunicado, the groups charge.

The transfers, which authorities reportedly carried out in the middle of the night and made public only after a recent court order in Kenya, violated international law, according to the rights groups. They charge that the program is being driven by the United States, which has built a close relationship with Kenya and Ethiopia in the war on terrorism.