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Obama and torture - World Socialist Web Site
►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/04/pers-j04.html

Obama et la question de la torture : analyse.

Obama and torture
4 January 2013

As the Obama administration prepares to begin its second term, with its liberal and “left” apologists speculating on prospects for progressive action, events have once again made clear that the Democratic president is continuing and deepening the crimes of his predecessor.

In his first four years in office, Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, worked aggressively to shut down all investigations into CIA torture and other crimes committed in the name of the “war on terrorism.” It intervened in case after case to quash lawsuits seeking to hold accountable those who had illegally abducted and tortured thousands of individuals. It sought dismissal of legal actions seeking to uncover information about these crimes by invoking state secrecy.

#états-unis #torture #droits-humains

Afghanistan: Sharp rise in civilian deaths - World Socialist Web Site
►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/04/afgh-j04.html

Afghanistan: Sharp rise in civilian deaths
By Oliver Campbell
4 January 2013

While the US and its allies claim that the situation in Afghanistan “stabilised” in 2012, in preparation for a security handover to Afghan forces in 2014, increasing civilian casualties, daily drone strikes and a mounting social crisis reveal the real situation after more than a decade of US occupation.

According to a report released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on December 14, at least 967 civilians were killed, and another 1,590 were injured in the third quarter of 2012. The figures indicate a 28 percent rise in civilian deaths between August 1 and October 31, compared to the corresponding period in 2011.

Statistics released by the US in early November showed that the US military had carried out 333 drone strikes in Afghanistan in the first 10 months of 2012. The average of 33 drone strikes per month was reportedly far higher than at any time in the 11-year US occupation. The monthly average in 2011 was 24.5.

#afghanistan #états-unis

Homelessness and sleeping in the street on the rise in the UK - World Socialist Web Site

►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/04/home-j04.html

Homelessness and sleeping in the street on the rise in the UK
By Dennis Moore
4 January 2013

Figures published by the Homelessness Monitor, a five year joint project between York University and Herriot Watt University Edinburgh, show that more people are becoming homeless and sleeping rough (on the streets) in England.

Across the UK, significant numbers of local authorities saw rough sleeping increase by 100 percent. In a national count of people sleeping rough carried out across the UK between autumn 2010 and 2011, an increase of 23 percent was recorded. In London the rise in rough sleeping was 43 percent above the previous year. This increase is greater than anything seen since the early 1990s and the trend is set to get much worse as council budgets are slashed and services to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping are cut.

#royaume-uni
#pauvreté

US drone strikes continue in Yemen - World Socialist Web Site
►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/03/yeme-j03.html

US drone strikes continue in Yemen
By Will Morrow
3 January 2013

Two US drone strikes in Yemen on December 24 killed six people and wounded at least three others, according to an Associated Press report. A missile struck a vehicle travelling in the central Bayda province carrying two men—one Yemeni and one Jordanian. The same day, three missiles killed four men travelling on motorbikes in Hadhramaut province.

While unnamed Yemeni officials claimed that all six victims were members of the local Al Qaeda affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), only one has been identified. Yemeni and US officials, along with the international media, routinely label civilians and government opponents killed in drone strikes as AQAP “militants.”

New US drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen - World Socialist Web Site
►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/04/dron-j04.html

New US drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen
By Patrick O’Connor
4 January 2013

Marking the first US drone attacks of 2013, the Obama administration ordered two separate missile bombardments in Pakistan and Yemen on Wednesday and Thursday.

The latest attacks demonstrate that the drawdown of US-led occupying forces in Afghanistan will be accompanied by an expansion of illegal drone operations across the Middle East. At least 16 people were reported killed, all alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, though details of each incident are still emerging and Washington routinely covers up the killing of civilians in drone strikes.

#drones #afghanistan #pakistan #etats-unis