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Fighting Both Sides of the Same War: Is Turkey Using Attacks on ISIL as Cover for Assault on Kurds?
Turkish jets have reportedly launched their heaviest assault on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq since airstrikes began last week, effectively ending a two-year truce. Over the past week, the Turkish military has launched combat operations on two fronts: one against the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Syria and another against Kurds inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, where Kurdish groups have been fighting against the Islamic State. This means Turkey is now essentially bombing both sides of the same war. During an emergency session of NATO in Brussels Tuesday, the body offered support for Turkey’s military campaigns, although some member states expressed unease over the crackdown against the Kurds. Turkey’s attacks on the Kurds come just a month after the pro-Kurdish opposition People’s Democratic Party won 13 percent of the vote, helping to deprive President Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party of a majority in the Parliament for the first time since 2002. Over the past week, Turkey has detained more than 1,000 people in a series of raids, many targeting members of Kurdish groups. We speak to Kani Xulam, director of the American Kurdish Information Network.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Turkish jets have reportedly launched their heaviest assault on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq since airstrikes began last week, effectively ending a two-year truce. Over the past week, the Turkish military has launched combat operations on two fronts: one against the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Syria, also called Daesh, another against Kurds inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, where Kurdish groups have been fighting against the Islamic State. This means Turkey is now essentially bombing both sides of the same war.
During an emergency session of NATO in Brussels Tuesday, the body offered support for Turkey’s military campaigns, although some member states expressed unease over the crackdown against the Kurds. Turkey and the United States both consider the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, to be a terrorist organization, but the group and its allies has been given credit over the past year for helping in the fight against the Islamic State. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance stands in strong solidarity with Turkey, which recently opened up its air bases to the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State.
JENS STOLTENBERG: Terrorism in all its forms can never be tolerated or justified. It is right and timely that we hold this meeting today to address the instability on Turkey’s doorstep and on NATO’s border. NATO is following developments very closely, and we stand in strong solidarity with our ally, Turkey.
AMY GOODMAN: Turkey’s attacks on the Kurds come just a month after the pro-Kurdish opposition People’s Democratic Party won 13 percent of the vote, helping to deprive the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party of a majority in the Parliament for the first time since 2002. Over the past week, Turkey has detained more than a thousand people in a series of raids, many targeting members of Kurdish groups. On Tuesday, President Erdogan said it is impossible to continue the peace process with Kurdish militants.
PRESIDENT TAYYIP ERDOGAN: [translated] It is not possible for us to continue the peace process with those who threaten our national unity and brotherhood. There should have been a national unity and brotherhood. Brotherhood comes above the peace process, and it is a very comprehensive subject. I want our people to be sure of that. Those who walk in the countryside and in big cities wearing masks and carrying guns and patrol bombs will get the necessary response from our security forces and judiciary bodies.
AMY GOODMAN: To talk more about Turkey, the Kurds and the fight against the Islamic State, we’re joined by Kani Xulam, director of the American Kurdish Information Network in Washington, D.C.
Kani, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you talk about what’s happening right now in Turkey and this very rare meeting of NATO and what Turkey is doing?
KANI XULAM: I can. Thanks for having me, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: So explain what’s taken place this week.
KANI XULAM: Well, first, the NATO general secretary’s comment that the instability is at the border of Turkey or at NATO’s doorstep, as he put it, is really—is inside Turkey. For the last 31 years, there has been a big conflict inside Turkey between the Kurds and the Turks. Over 40,000 people have been killed. And unfortunately, the NATO general secretary didn’t really mention that.
As far as the problem or the rise of ISIS and the—Turkey’s decision to allow its air base to be used against it, for a year now, Kurds on the ground, inside Syria especially and also inside Iraq, have been fighting ISIS. By some accounts, they are the most effective ground troops, the boots on the ground, that the U.S. has cooperated with, and ISIS has had major setbacks. All of a sudden, now Turkey wants to join this fight. But it really doesn’t want to fight ISIS; it wants to fight the Kurds. So, I don’t know what’s going on at the White House, hoping that Turkey would fight ISIS. It doesn’t. It doesn’t want to. It doesn’t have the desire. It doesn’t have the wish.
And also, soliciting Turkish help to fight ISIS is like using a bloody towel to clean the mess in the kitchen, if you will, to mop the floor, if you will. For two years, three years, some 15,000 foreign fighters used Turkey as a stepping stone to go into Iraq, to go into Syria. And Turkey was hoping that they would basically topple Assad, turn Syria into a client state for Turkey, for Ankara, and also fight the Kurds. You know, Turkey wanted to have its cake and eat it, too. And now that these fighters are being degraded, in the words of President Obama, by the YPG and the PKK and the peshmerga, Turkey doesn’t know what’s—you know, is very unhappy about it. That’s why it called this meeting in Brussels.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to comments made by State Department spokesperson John Kirby. Speaking Monday, he said Turkey’s actions against the PKK were self-defense and had no connection to Turkey’s fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State, against ISIL.
JOHN KIRBY: We are grateful for Turkey’s cooperation against ISIL to include now use of some of their bases for coalition aircraft to go against targets, ISIL targets, particularly in Syria. So we’re grateful for that support. So, separate and distinct from that, Turkey has continued to come under attack by PKK terrorists, and we recognize their right to defend themselves against those attacks. And it was in retaliation for recent attacks by the PKK that Turkey conducted these most recent strikes. ... I understand the coincidence of all of this, but it is just that. The attacks against the PKK were in retaliations for attacks they, the Turks, endured. And what they’re doing against ISIL in Syria, I’ll let them speak to, but obviously we welcome all coalition members’ efforts against ISIL, particularly in Syria.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s State Department spokesperson John Kirby. Kani Xulam, your response?
KANI XULAM: You know, on July 20, a suicide bomber went to a meeting in Suruc, Turkey, a town just miles away from Kobani, the Stalingrad of the Kurds, if you will. Last year, ISIS almost took it over, and thanks to the United States government dropped air—airdrops on October 19, 2014, and the town that had been occupied 80 percent by ISIS, the Kurds fought back, house to house, street to street, and kicked out these Daesh and ISIS supporters, sent them back to Raqqa, if you will.
As far—this recent incident, on July 20, when one ISIS sympathizer or militant went to this meeting where these Kurdish activists from western Turkey, from Kurdistan, from Kurds, wanted to go to Kobani and build a playground for the kids. They wanted to build a school. And 32 of them were killed. And supposedly because of that, Turkey entered the war. And guess what it did. It went after the PKK inside Iraq, you know, 400 places, sorties, as opposed to several, according to the British accounts, British press media. And ISIS—according to British media again, ISIS spokesperson have said, "Well, Turkey just bombed a couple of empty buildings." So, the desire is not there. The enthusiasm is not there. I mean, Turkey views Assad as a greater threat. Assad, for all his faults, have never enslaved people, have never sold women in the markets. Daesh has done that. ISIS has done that.
And then, as far as the spokesperson for the State Department, you know, he should also talk about the people who get killed inside Turkey, and he should also condemn—you know, there’s a ceasefire. For two-and-a-half years, guns have gone silent. But close to a dozen, close to, you know, 20 Kurdish activists have been killed in the meantime, and I wish he would also condemn that and say that Turkey should give peace a chance and, you know, resolve this issue. And if it cannot resolve this issue, it cannot resolve the issue inside Syria. It has to—there has to be peace at home. A house has to be united inside before it can venture out and help, you know, next-door neighbor Syria or Iraq.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the significance of Turkey allowing the U.S. to use Incirlik, the air base, and if you think that ties into what’s going on here in the attack on the Kurds?
KANI XULAM: I think it does. It is significant. Incirlik is only 100 to 200 miles away from Raqqa, the Islamic basis, the so-called Islamic State basis. And President Obama, you know, wants to tackle this issue and address this issue, and he wishes to leave a good legacy and maybe hope that Islamic State will be degraded and destroyed on his watch. The problem is, he has picked the wrong partner. You know, he should have supported the Kurds, who are willing to fight them and have fought them and have a good record fighting them.
And so, you know, he hopes for the good, but I think, at the end of the day, he may—just like a lot of people at the Obama administration thought Iraq was lost to Iran, and the Bush administration did that, and Turkey might be lost, too, because the fault lines that are in Syria, the Sunni-Alevi or Sunni-Shiite fault line, and then the minority issue of Kurds—Arab majority, Kurdish minority—and also in Iraq, the same fault lines are in Turkey. There are 12 million Alevis in Turkey. There are 20 million Kurds in Turkey. And there is a Sunni domination in Turkey, and that has to come to an end. If NATO wants to have a stable partner, it needs to address this issue. It cannot—you know, some of the members, like Germany and U.K., have urged Turkey to be proportionate, if you will, and address this issue in a sanely manner.
But Erdogan, in the last election, lost the majority. He was hoping to get 400 deputies in the Parliament, and he was hoping to become, you know, next to an absolute ruler in the country. And now he’s—with this war, he’s trying to raise jingoistic feelings and then call for early elections in November and hope and pray he will get the 400 votes—deputies. And he might do that. He might be able to do that, too. But I think—I don’t think NATO should help him do that. I don’t think U.S. should help him do that.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to turn to Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party.
SELAHATTIN DEMIRTAS: [translated] What is our unforgivable crime? Our only crime is winning 13 percent of the votes and reflecting the people’s wish at the ballot box and for the Parliament. I am saying, in brackets, there is no other wrongdoing they can blame us for. We fought for the development of democracy, removing injustice, and making the principles of quality and freedom our permanent life system. ... Mr. President, you panicked because the PKK was going to disarm itself. You stopped it. It seems if PKK members come down from the mountains with their weapons, he will tell them to stop. He has no intention. I am saying very clearly, brothers, citizens, everyone living in Turkey has to know that the president of this country has stopped and prevented the disarmament of the PKK.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s a leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party. Kani Xulam, can you expound on that?
KANI XULAM: Well, two things. One is he’s been compared to Obama, but I’d like to think that he’s actually better than Obama. At least he says things like "You cannot clean blood with blood." He is the—Turkey should count its blessings for having Selahattin Demirtas as the leader of the Kurdish party, the most scrupulous person you could have in Turkish politics.
Turkish government—the Turkish president now says, for example, "We should lift the immunity of these deputies"—he’s referring to Kurdish deputies—"and then we should prosecute them for having links to the PKK." And Selahattin Demirtas said, "Fine, we’ll come to you, and let’s make a deal. Lift the immunity of all the deputies, 550 of them." And many of the members of the AKP party are accused of siphoning millions of dollars. Some of the cabinet members last December were caught red-handed with millions of dollars stashed in shoeboxes in their homes. And now the government doesn’t want to prosecute them. And because they lost the majority, if a coalition government comes into power, the members of the opposition parties are saying, "We want to investigate that." And so, Erdogan is panicking, is panicking that the prosecution might come, that he might actually go to jail. And he deserves to go to jail. You know, if a cabinet member is found with millions of dollars stashed in shoeboxes in his home, any president would have said that person should go to jail, that person should be discredited. Erdogan is covering, you know, is basically protecting them.
And that is this—you know, these are the issues that President Obama should address. These are the issues that the NATO secretary general should address, rather than saying that the problem is outside of Turkey. There are problems inside Turkey, too.
AMY GOODMAN: Kani Xulam, we want to thank you for being with us, director of the American Kurdish Information Network. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, a judge in California has issued a major ruling that could see hundreds of immigrant women and children freed from detention prisons in Texas. We’ll bring you the latest. Stay with us.
"Deplorable": Federal Judge Condemns For-Profit Texas Detention Centers for Immigrant Families
In what could be a major victory for human rights advocates here in the United States, a federal judge has issued a harsh condemnation of the mass detention of immigrant women and children, calling conditions in the privately run prisons "deplorable." The ruling by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee gives the Obama administration 90 days either to release the more than 2,000 women and children being held in two Texas facilities or to show just cause to continue holding them. Immigration lawyers say the ruling has already had a "groundbreaking" impact as Texas judges have started ordering women and children’s release without bond, though many have been forced to wear electronic ankle monitors. Republicans are calling on the Obama administration to appeal the ruling. We speak to longtime immigration lawyer Barbara Hines, who represents many clients who are detained in the Karnes and Dilley detention centers in Texas.
Image Credit: GSR photo / Nuri Vallbona
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we turn right now to the issue of immigration, what could be a major victory for human rights advocates here in the United States. A federal judge has issued a harsh condemnation of the mass detention of immigrant women and children, calling conditions in privately run facilities "deplorable." The ruling by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee gives the Obama administration 90 days to either release the more than 2,000 women and children being held in two Texas prisons or to show just cause to continue holding them. Immigration lawyers say the ruling has already had a "groundbreaking" impact as Texas judges have started ordering women and children’s release without bond, though many have been forced to wear electronic ankle monitors. Republicans are calling on the Obama administration to appeal the ruling. But at a hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and House Judiciary Committee—and House Judiciary Democrats said the practice must end. This is Congressmember Judy Chu, Democrat of California.
REP. JUDY CHU: I was one of the eight who visited the Karnes and Dilley detention center. And when I saw the Dilley detention center, I was so shocked at how isolated and barren it was. The first thing I thought was that they looked so much like the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. I saw the sterile barracks, the muddy dirt pathways, the mass institutionalized cafeteria, and the guards everywhere. And I was shocked and so very moved by the desperate pleas of hundreds of mothers who came out to say, "Release me, I am not a criminal," and who scratched out picket signs that were written on their pillowcases and bedsheets.
I also remembered how the Japanese-American internment camps were pitched the American public as though the federal government was doing this for the safety of Japanese Americans. A similar argument has been made in the government’s case for detaining families, mainly from Central America fleeing unspeakable violence. The Department of Homeland Security repeatedly justified detaining families for deterrence reasons, to send a message that others weren’t welcome. Well, after much pressure and a federal court ruling that such a policy was unconstitutional, I am happy to say that DHS has finally reversed course and will no longer be using detention in that way. And just like we have to call the Japanese-American internment camps for what it was—a prison for people who were not criminals—we have to call the Karnes and Dilley detention center what they really are: prisons for people who are not criminals.
AMY GOODMAN: Among those who testified Tuesday about conditions for women and children in detention was a recently released mother named Sonia Hernández. She explained how, after she came with her three children from El Salvador to escape violence and threats to their lives, she was detained 315 days, until June 9th of this year, at the Karnes County Residential Center in Karnes, Texas, which she compared to a prison.
SONIA HERNÁNDEZ: When my children would get sick, like when they had a fever sometimes as high as 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the only thing that I could do was to put them in the bath or in the shower in order to lower their fever. When they were hungry, I had to buy instant soup to be able to give them noodle soup. Sometimes immigration would see that I looked like I was doing really badly, like I wasn’t doing well, and they would tell me that I should go to the psychiatrist. And I would respond to them, "The psychiatrist isn’t going to resolve my problems. The only thing that will resolve my problems is to be freed from this place."
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined now from Washington, D.C., by two guests, including one who has inside knowledge of the conditions at Karnes. Olivia López is a longtime social worker who began working at Karnes last October but decided to leave her position in April after she says it was clear she had been hired to give the appearance of a well-supported medical unit. She says her efforts to improve documentation of the mothers’ care and concerns were repeatedly blocked.
We’re also joined by Barbara Hines, longtime immigration lawyer with many clients who are detained in family detention centers in Texas. She’s formerly with the University of Texas School of Law Immigration Clinic, now a fellow at the Emerson Collective.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! You both testified yesterday at the congressional hearing. Let’s begin with Barbara Hines. Talk about the significance of Judge Gee’s ruling. Did you expect this? And what is the scope of it?
BARBARA HINES: Well, I’m very pleased with Judge Gee’s ruling. I think what Judge Gee’s ruling does is confirm what advocates have been saying since last June and what members of Congress have been saying, is that running these detention camps is a violation of the Flores settlement, which was a settlement that was entered in 1996 regarding the treatment of children. And the most important pieces of Judge Gee’s ruling are, number one, that children cannot be housed in secured, unlicensed facilities. These are facilities that do not have a child welfare license from the state of Texas, and there is—or—and there is absolutely no independent oversight. The other thing that Judge Gee recognized is that children should be released—there’s a preference for release—family unity is very important, and that children should be released to their parents. And in this case, it would be parents who are detained with them.
AMY GOODMAN: And what is the timeline here?
BARBARA HINES: Well, Judge Gee gave the government until August 3rd to respond and then a certain amount of time—I think it’s one week—for the government to respond. And she proposes that the government has an implementation program within 90 days, because, really, we have now been running illegal detention camps for more than one year. So I hope that the government and the Obama administration will as quickly as possible accede to Judge Gee’s ruling.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the ankle bracelets, Barbara Hines, that these women, if they are released, are forced to wear?
BARBARA HINES: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: What are they? Who makes them?
BARBARA HINES: OK. So, first of all, they’re not really ankle bracelets. I think "bracelets" really doesn’t represent what these are. The women use the word "grillete" in Spanish, which is a shackle. They are very cumbersome. The batteries don’t work. The cords are very, very short. Women are like almost chained to the wall trying to keep these things charged. The government, just like they have done since last summer, is they never have an individualized determination of flight risk. So, asylum seekers, there should be a presumption that they should be released. So, instead of saying no bond, what ICE is doing, in a coercive way, is telling women, "The only way you can get out is to have an ankle shackle put on your leg."
I can give you an example of one of our clients. Her husband is a lawful permanent resident, so she has significant family ties in this country. She was released on an ankle shackle, and her leg swoll up because it was put on too tightly. Her daughter says that people look at her when they walk out, because normally the people that have these ankle monitors are prisoners. And these are women that have suffered such tremendous trauma. Their children have suffered such tremendous trauma. And without asking—making an individualized determination whether there are certainly other less intrusive methods for release of the women. So, I think they’re a significant problem and not the answer to how to deal with asylum seekers, mothers and children, fleeing violence in Central America.
AMY GOODMAN: The ankle shackles are made by what company?
BARBARA HINES: Well, they’re made by the BI company. And I just recently learned that the BI company was bought out by GEO, and GEO is the private prison company that runs Karnes. So, as you can see, this is—there’s a lot—this is intimately tied into the private prison industry.
AMY GOODMAN: So they profit either way, whether they’re in prison at Karnes—GEO runs the prison—or if they have these ankle shackles put on them.
BARBARA HINES: That’s correct.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to play an excerpt from an interview with 19-year-old Lilian Oliva Bardales, who was detained at the detention center at Karnes County, Texas. She came to the U.S. with her four-year-old son seeking asylum from her abusive husband. After she was held for months and grew despondent, she tried to cut her wrists. In an interview with McClatchy, she described what happened when she was put on suicide watch.
LILIAN OLIVA BARDALES: [translated] When they said, "Remove your clothes to put this on, as a punishment," they told me, "If you don’t undress, we’ll see who is in charge, you or us. We’re going to rip your clothes off." So, since I was afraid of that, I had to take my clothes off. I cried. I didn’t eat. My life was very sad in that place. I felt like absolutely nothing in that country. And they didn’t give me the support when I needed it most.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Lilian Oliva Bardales, formerly held at the GEO Group detention center in Karnes County. Not long after she attempted suicide, she was deported to her home country of Honduras. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has opened an investigation into her case. How does something like this happen, Barbara Hines?
BARBARA HINES: Well, RAICES and the Karnes Pro Bono Project and other lawyers were actually involved in Lilian’s case. And we were desperately trying to get hold of her, so we could get papers signed, so that we could take over her case—she had been represented by another lawyer—and we were denied access to her.
This, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident. Several weeks later, we represented another client, who also was put on the suicide watch. And what I just heard from Lillian is hauntingly familiar and so similar to what our second client spoke about when she was put into isolation and separated from her child, while the GEO—or, the medical unit watched her, their alleged suicide watch.
How does this happen? One of the reasons is because GEO is a for-profit prison, so you can cut corners or you want to cut corners whenever you can. It’s a coercive environment. It is a jail. This is not a family residential center. It’s a joke to call this a residential center. And we’ve had so many complaints, both at the Karnes facility, the Berks facility in Pennsylvania, and Dilley, over inadequate medical care.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to immigrant rights attorney Barbara Hines. Usually, we speak to her in Austin. She’s in Washington, where she testified yesterday before Congress. We’re going to break, and when we come back, we are also joined by Olivia López, who is a longtime social worker. She’ll describe what she experienced when she went inside this detention center. Stay with us.
This is Child Abuse: Social Worker Breaks Silence over Conditions Inside Immigrant Detention Center
Olivia López, a longtime social worker, began working at the Karnes County Residential Center in Texas last October but decided to leave her position in April after she says it was clear she had been hired to give the appearance of a well-supported medical unit. She says her efforts to improve documentation of the mothers’ care and concerns were repeatedly blocked. "Based on my experience there, I’ve come to that conclusion, that it was child abuse to separate a child from his or her mother," López says. She testified Tuesday at a hearing organized by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Democrats from the House Judiciary Committee.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Our guests are immigrants’ rights attorney Barbara Hines and Olivia López. Olivia López is a longtime social worker who was on the staff at the Karnes County Residential Center in Texas, where more than 500 migrant women and their children were detained, many seeking asylum. This week she is speaking out for the first time about what she saw, and testified Tuesday at a hearing organized by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Democrats from the House Judiciary Committee.
Olivia López, thank you also for joining us. Talk about what you found. When were you first sent to Karnes to work?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: Thank you for having me today. I first started at Karnes in October of 2014 and resigned April the 2nd of 2015.
AMY GOODMAN: And, well, talk about what you found. What did you expect to find in a detention center?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: Well, I think the most—I’ve talked about this before—the most startling thing for me, once I got into the center and back to the medical department, was the clanging of the doors. I mean, really, I felt it really was a prison at that point. You know, the sally port doors and the clanging and monitors all over. And it just felt like that to me. And later, I just came to realize that it was that.
AMY GOODMAN: What were you asked to do?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: Well, I was hired as the lead licensed social worker there to do social work with the women and supervise two other employees that would also assist in that effort. And so, what I discovered in my experiences there were that social work in that setting at Karnes City was much different than the social work that I know as—in employing and as I know as a social work professor. And that is to say, the basic functions of advocacy, empowerment and then just engagement were really not part of the interpretation of social work at Karnes City residential center.
AMY GOODMAN: Did you try to document what you saw?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: Yes. You know, there’s a weekly monitoring that occurs at Karnes City, and it’s a mental health check to make sure how women are doing and how their children are doing. And at the bottom of that form there’s a place to list, you know, comments or—excuse me—concerns that women have, and so it would be on that form in that place where I would write and log what their concerns were or those issues that they raised. And it was on that form that I was informed that—not to write anything down on that beyond that the resident had been instructed on the referral process. So, whatever concerns that resident would have raised would not then be on that form.
AMY GOODMAN: During your congressional testimony on Tuesday, you really had some harrowing testimony about a chickenpox outbreak. Can you describe what happened and when this was?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: Yes, it was the mid-part of March 2015. There was a chickenpox outbreak at Karnes. And my understanding was that the main office ordered that all the women and children have blood draw to see who had the antigens for the chickenpox outbreak—that is to say, those who would have a higher risk of getting chickenpox. And so, all the women and children had to have the blood draw. And so, in some orderly fashion, the women and children were put into the medical department and into the waiting room. And so, you know, they would take the kids and the mothers back to the rooms to draw blood. And the kids, really, were just so frightened and terrified, and they cried and they screamed. And we all heard it—I did—for the week or so that it happened. And then, just one day, I just came out of my office during the time when they were taking the blood draws, and I witnessed a small child, less than two, try to escape the medical department. He was so afraid about the blood draws. And all the kids really were, but he was the one that tried to escape. And that’s what I spoke about yesterday.
AMY GOODMAN: You talk about the women being put in isolation?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Solitary confinement? And the federal authorities say this is not a prison, but they’re put in federal—in solitary confinement?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: Well, certainly, it’s not called that there, but what I came to understand is that when women were being reprimanded or punished or wanted some—or GEO wanted some behavior modification, they and their children will be placed in a medical observation room. But truthfully, I just came to understand that those rooms really were for punishment and behavior modification. They were not free to leave the rooms. They were in there for the duration of the time of their punishment, for the lack of a better word.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think needs to be done?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: Well, just like Barbara—I mean, we talked about this yesterday, too—family detention is not a place for these families and children. I mean, they’re not criminals. They are fighting to save the lives of their children and themselves. And so, there are other ways, there are other mechanisms, to be able to take care of these families and children. We have social workers out in the communities that can serve as a function as case management to be able to monitor them and also to be able to serve as the first line of defense for them in terms of social service needs, mental health needs, medical care, referrals—the whole advocacy process, which is that of social work. And it seems to me that that would be a better mechanism than imprisoning families and children who are not criminals.
AMY GOODMAN: Would you describe what you saw there as child abuse?
OLIVIA LÓPEZ: You know, since I’ve left Karnes, I’ve had some time to kind of think about that, and now I have just come to—based on my experience there, I have come to that conclusion, that it was child abuse to separate a child from her mother, his mother, his or her mother. And then that child would also be isolated, for example, if the mother was on a suicide watch. That child would also be isolated from its mother, you know, taken care of by a guard who the child doesn’t know, and bathed by a nursing staff. And, you know, they sleep alone, without the protection of their mother. And that really qualifies, under the types of abuse, as emotional abuse.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go back to California Congressmember Judy Chu speaking Tuesday about her visit to the detention center for women and children at Karnes, Texas, that’s run by the private prison company, GEO Group.
REP. JUDY CHU: During our visit, I kept on asking myself: Why is our government doing this to families who pose no threat at all? Why is the government spending $337 per day at Dilley and $161 a day at Karnes to lock up women and children, when there are less expensive alternatives available, such as alternative detention? The answer to this is the private interests and their profits. DHS contracts with the private prison industry, like the Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group, to run these facilities, and then turns a blind eye as to whether these detainees are receiving adequate care. That’s unacceptable, and we have to hold these contractors accountable.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s California Congressmember Judy Chu. Recently released campaign finance documents revealed corporate backers also have the ear of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. One of her donation bundlers is a private prison company lobbyist at Akin Gump who helped block requirements that CCA—that’s the Corrections Corporation of America—respond to Freedom of Information Act requests. Barbara Hines, can you comment on this?
BARBARA HINES: Well, I think that Representative Chu said it so well. The private prison industry has an interest, has a profit motive, in expanding incarceration of immigrants, and this is a prime example. They have tremendous lobbying power and no child welfare experience. And I don’t think in any other situation would we ever allow the private prison industry to take care of children.
And one of the things that I find so disturbing and so shocking is, since I was involved in the litigation to end the first family detention center, at the T. Don Hutto facility, that was run by CCA—and when CCA opened that facility, they had little children in prison uniforms, three-month-old babies in prison uniforms. And this was the same—they thought that was acceptable to have children in a penal institution. CCA is the same facility that is running the largest not only detention camp, but the largest detention facility in the country, filled with mothers and children.
AMY GOODMAN: You also saw children being given adult doses of vaccines?
BARBARA HINES: I didn’t actually see it. I was at Dilley the day of the incident. I spoke to a mother at that time who was very upset that her child had been vaccinated that day. She claimed—told me that the nurses and the staff treated her child very roughly. She complained. She told me that her child—she told me that her child could not walk. He was feverish. He was in really bad shape. And then she said to him, "Show her." And he pulled down—he was four years old. He pulled down his pants, and I saw all of these marks, and his eyes welled up with tears as he showed them to me. Yes, and what this ended up being was overdosing children with a hepatitis vaccine forcibly and without the consent of the parents, the mothers.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we will certainly continue to follow this story. Barbara Hines, I thank you so much for being with us, longtime immigration lawyer, formerly with the University of Texas School of Law Immigration Clinic, now a fellow at Emerson Collective. And, Olivia López, thanks so much for speaking with us, veteran social worker who worked at the Karnes County Residential Center in Texas, then left. This is Democracy Now!, as we move to our last segment today.
Rappel Shell? Activists in Oregon Suspend Themselves from Bridge to Block Arctic-Bound Oil Ship
Climate justice activists — including a group of "kayaktivists" — are gathering in Portland to blockade a ship commissioned by oil giant Shell to break up Arctic ice in order to pave the way for Arctic drilling in the Chukchi Sea. Early this morning, activists with Greenpeace rappelled from the St. Johns Bridge in Portland to create an "aerial blockade" of the vessel. We speak to Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA, as she stands under the bridge.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to Portland, Oregon, where climate justice activists—including a group of "kayaktivists"—are gathering to blockade a ship commissioned by oil giant Shell to break up Arctic ice in order to pave the way for Arctic drilling in the Chukchi Sea. Early this morning, activists with Greenpeace rappelled from the St. Johns Bridge in Portland to create an aerial blockade of the vessel. Joining us on the phone now, Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA. She is standing by the bridge.
Annie, tell us what’s happening and what your group did today.
ANNIE LEONARD: It’s an absolutely beautiful site here as the sun has come up. In the middle of the night, 13 very brave activists rappelled over the side of the bridge. They are hanging there now with ropes in between them, so they’re actually creating a human barricade. Below this, there are about 50 kayaks in the water that have a secondary line of defense. And these activists, in the air and on water, are right now the last thing that stands between Shell Oil and its absolutely pathological plans to drill for oil in the Arctic this summer.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain how they have gotten this permission and what the people of Portland are doing.
ANNIE LEONARD: Well, actually, it’s absolutely inexplicable how they have gotten this permission. I wish I could understand it myself. Shell Oil is the last oil company, besides Russia’s national Gazprom, that even wants to drill in the Arctic, because it is so extreme, so dangerous, so expensive. All the other oil companies have said it just doesn’t make sense economically, certainly doesn’t make sense environmentally or morally.
Shell has gotten almost every permit it needs to drill except one last one. And our hope today is that by delaying this ship, it gives Obama time to take action, be the climate leader he says he wants to be, and deny this last permit.
The boat that is here, as you said, is an icebreaker, and Shell’s permit requires that this icebreaker be on site. Shell left Seattle with its rig last month, got up to the Arctic. They’re under enormous times pressure, because there’s only a certain number of weeks that the region is ice-free. In 2012, when Shell went up there, it was a disaster, and they crashed, and their contractor got charged with eight felonies. And this time they have promised that they are safety-obsessed and Shell ready, yet this icebreaker, which was up in Alaska just last week, ran into something and got a 39 -inch hole in its hull. So, it is down here now getting repaired on a tight, tight timeline.
AMY GOODMAN: Annie Leonard, we have five seconds. Can President Obama do anything about this now?
ANNIE LEONARD: Absolutely, he can deny that last permit and take a stand for climate solutions. Absolutely.
AMY GOODMAN: Annie Leonard, thank you for being with us, standing by the bridge where Greenpeace activists have formed an aerial blockade. Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA.
Headlines:
Turkey Escalates Assault on PKK in Northern Iraq
In Turkey, the military has carried out its heaviest assault on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq since airstrikes began last week, effectively ending a two-year truce. Turkey has launched combat operations on two fronts: one against the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Syria and another against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, where the PKK has been fighting against ISIL for the past year. During an emergency session in Brussels Tuesday, NATO offered support for Turkey’s military campaigns, although some member states expressed unease over the crackdown against the Kurds. We’ll have more on Turkey after headlines.
Obama to African Union: "Nobody Should Be President for Life"
President Obama has wrapped up his historic visit to Kenya and Ethiopia with an address to the African Union. In his speech, Obama called on the continent’s long-entrenched leaders to step aside, saying, "Nobody should be president for life." The address marked the first time a U.S. sitting president has spoken before African Union. Obama joked that he could win a third term — but can’t run.
President Obama: "I actually think I’m a pretty good president. I think if I ran, I could win. But I can’t. So there’s a lot that I’d like to do to keep America moving, but the law is the law."
Obama’s comments come just days after Burundi’s president won re-election for a third term, despite massive protests denouncing the move as unconstitutional.
Afghan Officials Claim Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Has Died
In news from Afghanistan, the government is investigating reports the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, has died. Sources within the government have reportedly told news outlets Omar died two or three years ago. This is the first time Afghan officials have confirmed reports of Omar’s death. The Taliban has not confirmed the information, but it has told the BBC that it will soon issue a statement.
Migrant Dies as Thousands Try to Enter Eurotunnel to Reach U.K.
In news from Europe, at least one migrant has died after 1,500 people tried to enter the Eurotunnel in Calais, France, in efforts to reach England. Yesterday’s death comes after 2,000 migrants attempted enter the Eurotunnel on Monday night. British Home Secretary Theresa May met with French officials Tuesday to discuss the growing number of migrants crossing into Europe and through the Eurotunnel into England as they flee violence in Africa, Syria and Iraq. May spoke about the plans to increase security measures.
Home Secretary Theresa May: "We’ve agreed today that we will work together to return migrants, particularly to West Africa, to insure that people see that making this journey does not lead to them coming to Europe and being able to settle in Europe. And at Calais, the French government have already been putting in extra resources, extra police resources, and the U.K. government will be putting in up to seven million pounds more, to ensure the security of the Eurotunnel railhead at Coquelles."
Haitians in DR Say Immigration Papers They Paid for Have Not Arrived
In news from the Dominican Republic, hundreds of Haitians protested to demand the return of over $100,000, which they say was paid to secure immigration papers that never arrived. Earlier this year, the Dominican Republic stripped hundreds of thousands of Haitians of their legal status and announced that it would begin deporting those who did not secure proper immigration papers. The move set thousands scrambling to secure papers, but now many say that although they paid for the documents, they have not yet arrived. Jésus Nuñez, the coordinator of the national union of sugarcane workers, spoke at the protest.
Jésus Nuñez: "We are calling for the 4,608,000 pesos (102,230 U.S. dollars) that were deposited in the BHD Bank in the name of the Haitian Embassy to be returned. Until now, not one sugarcane worker has a certificate, an identity card or a passport."
Finland: 15,000 March to Denounce Lawmaker’s Anti-Immigrant Comments
In Finland, as many as 15,000 people attended rallies and protests Tuesday to denounce recent comments by an elected official that multiculturalism was "a nightmare." The lawmaker is from the Finns Party, the second-largest in Parliament, which has backed strict immigration laws. Many are now calling for the official, Olli Immonen, to resign.
Morgan Freeman & Jewish Congressman Levin Support Iran Nuclear Deal
In news from Washington, the proponents of the Iran nuclear deal have gained key allies this week, including famed actor Morgan Freeman and Representative Sander Levin, who is the longest-serving Jewish congressmember. This support comes as Secretary of State John Kerry warned that rejecting the deal could lead to Iran gaining nuclear weapons. In a now viral video released Tuesday, Morgan Freeman and other actors, comedians, politicians and diplomats called on Congress to approve the deal.
Morgan Freeman: "Ultimately, we could be forced into a war with Iran, another dangerous, drawn-out and expensive conflict in the Middle East with many lives lost."
Jonathan Pollard, Convicted of Spying for Israel, to Be Freed in Nov.
The United States Parole Commission has announced that Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard will be released in November. Pollard is a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer convicted of passing U.S. secrets to Israel. He was sentenced to life in prison. In 1999, Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker reported Israel was suspected of sharing some of Pollard’s material with the Soviet Union in exchange for continued Soviet permission for Jews to emigrate to Israel. The announcement of Pollard’s parole comes as the United States attempts to appease Israel following the Iran nuclear deal.
Report: "Strong Evidence" of Israeli War Crimes in 2014 Gaza Assault
Amnesty International has said there is "strong evidence" that Israel committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during its assault on Gaza last summer. In a report released today, Amnesty International chronicled the Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah, describing a "relentless and massive bombardment of residential areas ... displaying a shocking disregard for civilian lives." The findings echo an earlier U.N. report which found both Israel and Palestinian militants committed possible war crimes during the assault, which killed 2,200 Palestinians. On the Israeli side, 73 people were killed, all but six of them soldiers.
Judge Releases Video of Sandra Bland Entering Waller County Jail
Authorities in Waller County, Texas, have released video of Sandra Bland entering the jail in an effort to dispel rumors she was already deceased when she entered the facility. Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell three days after she was arrested for failing to signal a lane change. Dash cam video of her arrest shows Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia forcibly removing her from her car and threatening to "light [her] up" after she refused to put out her cigarette. She can later be heard accusing police of slamming her head into the ground. Authorities have said she committed suicide in jail, a claim that her family rejects. Tuesday, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon released the footage of Bland entering the jail following her arrest.
Judge Trey Duhon: "Because of some of the things that’s gone out on social media, this county has been literally attacked. We are under cyber-attack by individuals, like the group called Anonymous, who has claimed that Sandra Bland is deceased in the mugshot. You will see video here today that will show that she was alive and well when her mugshot was taken."
African-American Woman Ralkina Jones Found Dead in Ohio Jail
Meanwhile, a 37-year-old African-American woman named Ralkina Jones was found dead in a jail cell in Cleveland, Ohio, on Sunday. Jones is at least the second African-American woman to die in a jail cell since Sandra Bland’s death two weeks ago. She was arrested after a dispute with her ex-husband on Friday. Cleveland authorities are investigating her death.
Lakota Woman Sarah Lee Circle Bear Died After Jailers Ignored Pleas
In a similar case, news reports surfaced yesterday of the death of a 24-year-old Lakota woman named Sarah Lee Circle Bear, who was found unresponsive in a jail cell on July 6 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She had been arrested on a violation of her bond. Sarah Lee Circle Bear had reportedly told her jailers that she was in pain, but they had told her to "knock it off" and "quit faking it." When she was later found unresponsive, she was transferred to a nearby hospital, where she died.
Cincinnati Won’t Release Body Cam Video of Sam Dubose Police Killing
In Cincinnati, Ohio, the city is refusing to release the police body camera video of the fatal police shooting of Sam Dubose, a 43-year-old African-American man, on July 19. Dubose was shot by University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing following a routine traffic stop. The city has so far refused to release the footage, but Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell told local media that he has reviewed the tape and "the video is not good."
El Salvador: Bus Drivers Go on Strike amid Gang Threats, Killings
In news from El Salvador, bus drivers have stopped work after two of El Salvador’s deadliest gangs instructed bus drivers to go on strike. The order has crippled transportation in the capital city, San Salvador. The move comes as the two gangs attempt to gain leverage in order to pressure the government to negotiate with them over the conditions of their imprisoned members. At least five bus drivers were found dead on Monday.
Oregon: Activists Rappel from Bridge to Block Shell Arctic Oil Ship
In Portland, Oregon, a group of environmental "kayaktivists" are setting forth in kayaks to block a Shell icebreaking vessel as it attempts to leave the harbor for oil-drilling operations in the Arctic. Activists also rappelled from a bridge to create an "aerial blockade" of the vessel. The Interior Department has warned there is a 75 percent chance of an oil spill in the Arctic once Shell begins drilling.
$200 Billion Worth of Oil Projects Delayed; BP Posts $6 Billion Loss
In more news from the fossil fuel industry, oil giant BP has reported an unusually high $5.8 billion loss in the second quarter of 2015. This loss is due to low oil prices combined with settlements over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The announcement of BP’s losses comes as the Financial Times reports that oil and gas companies have delayed investing in new extraction projects worth a total of $200 billion. In total, companies have delayed at least 46 projects that include expensive processes such as deepwater drilling, because the projects would be unprofitable at the current level of oil prices.
Secretive TPP Talks Continue at Luxury Hotel in Hawaii
Trade ministers from Pacific Rim countries are continuing secret talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact at a luxury hotel in Hawaii. The talks are the first since Congress granted President Obama fast-track authority to push the deal through Congress on an up-or-down vote with no amendments. Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari cited progress in the talks.
Akira Amari: "All things considered, with the 12 nations involved, we’re working toward a completed result by the upcoming deadline."
Leaked drafts show a provision of the TPP would allow foreign corporations to sue countries in special tribunals over laws they say could hurt their future profits. This comes as a Canadian gold-mine developer has filed a request for arbitration with a similar tribunal, the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, after protests in Romania stalled efforts to build Europe’s largest open-pit gold mine.
White House Rejects Petition for Snowden Pardon 2 Years Later
The White House has responded to a petition calling for the pardon of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, after it received more than 100,000 signatures in 2013. That threshold is supposed to guarantee a response from the White House, but the response took more than two years. On Tuesday, Lisa Monaco, Obama’s adviser on homeland security and counterterrorism, rejected the call for a pardon and called for Snowden to "accept the consequences of his actions."
Zimbabwean Officials Looking for American Who Shot Cecil the Lion
Zimbabwean officials are searching for an American dentist who shot a well-known and protected lion with a crossbow. Cecil the lion was allegedly lured illegally out of Hwange National Park, where he had protected status. Walter James Palmer allegedly paid $54,000 to hunt the beloved lion. Two Zimbabwean men have been arrested for their role in the lion’s death.
Michael Moore to Release New Film, "Where to Invade Next"
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore will release a new film at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Titled "Where to Invade Next," the film is Moore’s first since his 2009 movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story." Moore said the new film is about "the issue of the United States at infinite war."
Michael Moore: "I don’t think there’s any one trigger. I mean, we’re all living in this time that we’ve been living in, certainly post-9/11, and everything that’s gone on in this country, and this constant need, it seems, to always have to have an enemy. Where’s the next enemy? So we can keep our whole military-industrial complex alive and keep the companies that make a lot of money from this in business. And so, I’ve always been a little bothered by that."
Peace Activist, Educator Jerry Berrigan Dies at 95
And the peace activist and educator Jerry Berrigan has died at home in Syracuse, New York, at the age of 95. The brother of fellow activists Daniel Berrigan and the late Philip Berrigan, Jerry Berrigan helped open a refuge for homeless men and was a regular at protests against Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, where overseas drones are piloted remotely. After his death Sunday, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner ordered flags outside City Hall lowered to half-staff in his honor.
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