Human Rights laws force military chiefs to KILL suspects with drones or leave them plotting - because detaining and extraditing them is too difficult ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says
Ben Wallace said human rights laws block Britain from capturing terror suspects
The former defence secretary said the laws mean forces kill suspects instead
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has said human rights laws are hindering Britain's efforts to tackle terrorism by preventing UK forces from capturing suspects and taking them abroad.
Speaking for the first time since he quit his Cabinet role, he hit out at the 'lunacy' of international treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights, that block UK forces from capturing 'enemies of Britain.'
Instead, human rights legislation forces UK defence secretaries to choose between killing suspects with drones, or leaving them to continue plotting, Mr Wallace told The Telegraph.
The ex-British Army Officer, who was succeeded by Grant Shapps, said he was forced in his role as defence secretary to 'deal with' terrorists by strike instead of capturing them due to law stopping suspects from being taken across borders.
Under international law, missions that could result in the rendition of a suspect - meaning their extrajudicial transfer from one country to another - are not permitted, he said.
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace (pictured) said human rights legislation is preventing UK forces from capturing suspected terrorists
Mr Wallace said: 'When we have a threat to the UK, this lunacy of being unable to render people across borders or arrest people in countries whose police forces are unacceptable, means that we are more often than not forced into taking lethal action than actually raiding and detaining.'
He said in his time as defence secretary, he 'came across plots' and 'took action', but would have liked to have had more options available to him.
'There are a number of individuals who pose an imminent threat to the UK, who I would prefer to have captured, rather than deal with by a strike,' Mr Wallace said.
'If there was an Isis plot in some Central African country for example, under international law we have the right to take action with or without permission from the host nation, but we couldn't capture the bad guys - we could only kill them.'
He explained that if a suspected terrorist surrenders during a raid, UK forces 'can't do anything with them' due to human rights legislation that blocks them being captured and taken abroad.
The former defence secretary said terrorists are taking 'advantage' of modern technology to 'direct, inspire and equip people to kill British citizens' while hiding in countries without extradition policies.
'There are nations currently hosting terrorists who direct threats against Britain, and they know they do. They’re not going to comply or help,' he said.
Ben Wallace said he would not push to get rid of the ECHR but instead said human rights law should be updated, to ensure it is suitable for the modern world (File photo: The European Court of Human Rights)
Mr Wallace said he would not push to get rid of the ECHR but instead said human rights law should be updated, to ensure it is suitable for the modern world.
'I'm not going so far as saying we should scrap the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights), but unless the international human rights bandwagon recognises the world we live in today is transnational, and technology has enabled like never before, far from guarding people's rights, we'll drive people to take more extreme measures,' he said.
'If you care about human rights, then you need to update yourself, because otherwise the option is, they're dead. Surely you want them to have a trial in front of an independent judiciary and jury?'
Mr Wallace announced in July that he would resign from the role. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak replaced him with Grant Shapps last month.
STRATCOM invited an Iranian propagandist. Now Congress wants answers - opinion
Far from encouraging a nuanced
dialogue, STRATCOM’s invitation to Hussein Mousavian only served to
legitimize him and the Iranian regime he represents.
Ten Iranian chief delegate Hussein Mousavian briefs the
media after an International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors
meeting in Vienna, in 2004.(photo credit: HERWIG PRAMMER/REUTERS)
Imagine the United States military inviting a former Iranian official
to speak at a strategic forum, only to hear recycled Iranian regime
propaganda. This isn’t a hypothetical. It’s what happened at US
Strategic Command (STRATCOM)’s 2023 Deterrence Symposium, and now
Congress is demanding answers.
In mid-August, STRATCOM made a controversial move by inviting Hussein Mousavian,
a former Iranian official who still maintains close ties to the regime,
to serve as a keynote speaker at its 2023 Deterrence Symposium, held in
Nebraska. Now, Congressional leaders are demanding accountability,
seeking names of the officials who invited Mousavian, and inquiring
whether any taxpayer dollars funded his accommodations.
A
STRATCOM spokesperson defended the decision, suggesting that
Mousavian’s perspectives could provide valuable insights from an
opposing viewpoint. However, Mousavian’s remarks at the STRATCOM
conference merely echoed standard regime propaganda. One could easily
find similar viewpoints in regime papers and propaganda outlets such as
the Tehran Times and Press TV.
How did Iranian propaganda get publicized and legitimized by STRATCOM?
In
his remarks, Mousavian describes all the regime’s aggressive policies,
including advancing the nuclear weapons program, terror operations in
the region, cyber attacks on the US and its allies, and arming Russia
against Ukraine as “reactions to the US hostile policies against Iran.”
He
merely repeated the regime’s propaganda, accusing the US of committing
unjustified acts of aggression towards Iran including “the US backing a
coup against prime minister Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953,” “the oppression
by the Shah,” “the US support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during
the war against Iran,” and “sanctions.”
Iranian
flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA
headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in
Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (credit: LISI NIESNER/ REUTERS)
According
to Mousavian, Iran and the US might still have a good relationship and
could be friends if the US had taken a different approach toward the
regime. Mousavian’s argument is fundamentally flawed, as animosity
towards the US, often referred to by Tehran as the “Great Satan,” is one
of the core ideological tenets of the Islamic Republic. Any attempt to
reconcile with the United States would undermine the regime’s identity
and legitimacy.
The
revolutionary ideology of the regime is built on maintaining this
enmity; without it, the internal contradictions within the Islamic
Republic would become untenable. Contrary to Mousavian’s argument, the
main obstacle to diplomatic breakthrough is not the US approach but the
intrinsic nature of the regime itself.
FURTHER, MOUSAVIAN criticized former president Donald Trump’s
decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal, claiming “the Islamic
Republic complied completely with the deal…but the US again broke the
promise.” Contradicting Mousavian’s claims, evidence from the Iranian nuclear achive,
stolen by the Israeli Mossad in 2018, tells a different story. The
documents show that the regime was conducting nuclear activities in
three undeclared sites and was very close to mastering key bomb-making
technologies.
The
documents further show that the regime was making extensive plans to
continue secret projects, hidden within existing military research
programs. While Mousavian defends Iran’s alleged compliance with the
nuclear deal, his own words betray a different agenda. He once admitted,
“if I was the decision-maker during the Ahmadinejad era... I would have
produced a nuclear bomb.”
Mousavian also criticized Trump’s decision to eliminate Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force (IRGC-QF) as an unjustified American act of aggression towards Iran.
However,
what Mousavian conveniently overlooked is that Soleimani was
responsible for half of the American casualties in Iraq, a number that
reached 4,431 by 2010, who died due to Iran’s roadside bombs. Under
Soleimani’s command, the IRGC-QF supplied the Iraqi Shi’ite militias
with an array of weapons such as rockets, magnetic bombs, and IED/EFP
road bombs. Iraqi militants were sent to special camps in Iran where
Soleimani forces trained them in the use of explosives and snipers
tactics.
As a
further incentive, Soleimani offered $800 to Iraqis who killed American
soldiers. In Afghanistan, Soleimani paid Taliban fighters $1,000 for
each US soldier they killed.
In
the months prior to his demise, Soleimani directed Abu Mahdi
al-Muhandis, the Kataib Hezbollah (KH) chief and his most loyal
follower, to hit an American base near Kirkuk. That strike killed an
American contractor on December 27.
Soleimani
then ordered the KH to attack the American embassy in Baghdad, a
24-hour siege that caused considerable damage to the compound’s outer
perimeter. The assault, invoking as it did the storming of the US
embassy in Tehran in 1979, was a warning that the Iranians were ready to
“Carterize” Donald Trump.
Amid
this context of selective storytelling, it’s crucial to highlight that
Mousavian himself championed Soleimani’s confrontational actions against
US forces.
In
an article titled “Ten Characteristics of General Soleimani” published
in the Iranian daily Hamshahri, Mousavian praised Soleimani as “a hero
that fought alongside his soldiers against terrorists and Americans in
Iraq and Syria.”
Mousavian
also took pride in Soleimani’s fight against Israel and his role in
killing Israeli citizens. In his Hamshahri article, he wrote, “during
the Israeli war against Lebanon, especially the 33-day war, Soleimani
was present on the battlefield and fought like a brave soldier.”
When
Soleimani was killed, Mousavian attended his funeral in Tehran. In an
interview with Iranian media, he claimed that the US had been
instrumental in forming jihadi terrorist groups in the region. He
further asserted that “because Soleimani was combating ISIS, which he
alleged was created by and allied with the US – the US government chose
to assassinate him.”
MOUSAVIAN
GLOATED about the regime’s death threats against former officials at
Trump administration, including secretary of state Mike Pompeo and his
deputy, Brian Hook, in a documentary film produced by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Furthermore, he allegedly maintains
strong ties to the regime’s intelligence organizations, including the
Intelligence and Security Ministry (MOIS) and the Intelligence
Organization of the IRGC (SAS or Sazman-e Ettellaat Sepah).
While
serving as the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to Germany, Mousavian was
in office when the assassination of Kurdish leaders occurred at the
Mykonos restaurant on September 17, 1992. This event resulted in the
deaths of Iranian-Kurdish opposition leaders Sadegh Sharafkandi, Fattah
Abdoli, Homayoun Ardalan, and their translator, Nouri Dehkordi.
According to German investigators, the operation was sanctioned by
senior officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, MOIS chief Ali Falahian, and
several other high-ranking figures.
German
authorities believed that such an operation couldn’t have been carried
out without coordination from Iran’s embassy in Germany, which was led
by Mousavian at the time. Given the Mousavian’s ties to the MOIS, and
the MOIS track record of using diplomatic missions and agents posing as
diplomats across Europe for terrorist activities, this is a plausible
scenario.
In
response, the German government forced Mousavian to leave the country,
along with several other Iranian diplomats and intelligence operatives.
Mohsen Sazegara, who was one of the founders of the IRGC after the
revolution in 1979, says that Mousavian currently has ties with the
IRGC-SAS and its chief, General Mohammad Kazemi.
Additionally,
in a leaked recording in 2016, the regime’s former foreign minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif revealed that Mousavian is loyal to the regime and
its leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and “continues to work hard” for the
regime’s interests while working at Princeton. According to Zarif,
Mousavian is someone who “in the US, Europe, and in international
conferences, beautifully defends the interests of the Islamic Republic”
to the point where if official Iranian diplomats can’t participate in a
conference abroad, he often fills the void.
Mousavian’s true colors and loyalties are revealed when he offers recommendations at the end of his remarks.
He
advises the US government “to revive the nuclear deal and lift
sanctions,” to give billions of dollars to the regime that sponsors
terrorism and kills Americans. Then, he recommends the US government
“pursue nuclear disarmament with Israel” and “end the policy of
isolating the Islamic Republic,” a regime that is determined to remove
the Jewish State from the map of the world.
Far
from encouraging a nuanced dialogue, STRATCOM’s invitation to Mousavian
only served to legitimize him and the regime he represents. Mousavian’s
propagandistic remarks at the symposium were simply echoing the
regime’s talking points, a fact that led Iranian media outlets to
celebrate his appearance.
The writer is a senior fellow at Philos Project.
Pud says: There is no doubt about it, inviting an Iranian propagandist to lecture STRATCOM is a blunder of the first magnitude and the senior US military officer, the senior Dept of Defense official and the senior Dept of State official who approved Hussein Mousavian attending the STRATCOM strategic forum need to be fired from their jobs ASAP. This man is a security threat to the USA, not a friend of the USA and should be on the CIA's "enemies to be eliminated " list. America's best hope of stopping the evil Biden administration is re-electing Donald Trump as POTUS in 2024. If the Democrats remain in power America will remain in grave danger of becoming just anther failed 3rd world dictatorship shithole run behind the scenes by Obama, Soros and crooks like Joe and Hunter Biden.
God Bless America and may God grant Donald Trump victory in 2024 and protect him from harm, Amen!
The easiest way to open a Coconut is to whisper it a joke & it will crack up with laughter
GERMANY: After an African Muslim failed asylum seeker murders a 30-year old German saleswoman, he will face no jail time due to alleged ‘mental issues,’ despite his long and well-known to police violent history
In other words, “If you live in a country where you get fined for fishing without a license but not for entering the county illegally without a passport, your county is run by idiots.”
REMIX News The 33-year-old Muslim suspect, Ahmad M., who allegedly came to Germany as an asylum seeker, was attending a “work therapy” session, which is offered by the Nordbaden Psychiatric Center. Despite his violent history, he was permitted to work at an unspecified location due to “progress” doctors said he had made in his psychiatric condition.
While working there, he escaped the location and ran into downtown Wiesloch. Although accompanied by psychiatric staff, they lost sight of the man, who then proceeded to find a target he picked at random. At 1:00 p.m., he stabbed Lisa S. to death while she was working inside the TEDi discount store located inside the “Kubus am Adenauer” shopping center. Police say he stole a knife from a bakery, which he then used to kill Lisa S.
Despite a district judge recognizing that Ahmad M. had just murdered Lisa S. in broad daylight, the judge said the man could not be tried because of his mental illness. Ahmad M. was therefore once again sent back to the same psychiatric clinic he had just escaped from.
Doctors previously certified that the violent criminal, who was known to the police, had made ‘treatment progress,’ which is why he was allowed to leave his psychiatric clinic under supervision,” wrote the party in a statement. The case follows a long-standing pattern of allowing foreigners to escape prison and instead enjoy psychiatric facilities, which often feature far better living conditions.
Last month, a judge determined that 34-year-old Berhan S. would serve no prison time after stabbing two girls, both aged 8, inside the Protestant school in the multicultural Berlin neighborhood of Neukölln. Instead, the courts have ruled that due to “mental illness,” he cannot be held responsible for the stabbing case, in which the two 8-year-old girls nearly lost their lives after suffering multiple wounds to their necks and chests.
The increasingly popular anti-Muslim immigration party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), says the case fits a pattern of mental illness being used as an excuse to shield Muslim migrants and illegal aliens from criminal accountability.
The party further wrote: “We are tired of criminal cases like this being explained by mental illness. We are fed up with no action being taken. Anyone who picks up a knife in our country must be deported immediately.”
It's no uncommon to see rats jumping into open garbage cans on the city's streets
NYC's latest tourist attraction: RATS! Tour guides offer trips to worst rodent-infested parts of the Big Apple - as thousands tune into TikToks of vermin population that's exploded across city
Rat tourism has now become an unexpected phenomenon across New York City
Some tourists are looking for rat-related experiences with the city's tour guides
It comes after Eric Adams hired a 'rat tsar' to try to beat back the rodents
New York City is now so overrun with rats that tour guides are offering trips to see the worst rodent-infested areas.
'Rat tourism' is the latest attraction to be launched in the Big Apple, with savvy chaperons capitalizing on the invasion of the disease-spreading vermin.
Some are offering walks across the boroughs, including to Central Park, the subway system, near the Rockefeller Center, Times Square and Chinatown.
Meanwhile tens of thousands are tuning into 'RatTok' - TikTok channels taking viewers through the city showing how many rats are living alongside New Yorkers.
The rat infestation has become so bad that last year Mayor Eric Adams appointed a 'rat tsar' with the official title of 'director of rodent mitigation'.
Some tourists are now looking for rat-related experiences with tour guides have including stops at notoriously infested locations
One TikTok creator, Kenny Bollwerk, has built up a substantial following of 234,000 users focusing on the most 'rattractive' places for tourists to visit after he began live-streaming rats running around outside a building site in Queens.
He has now posted a number of videos with the focus squarely on the furry creatures that are continuing to run their own rat race in the nation's most populous city.
'I was like: 'Damn, this is bad. People are walking by, there's rats running across people's feet, there's piles of trash on the sidewalk,' he told The Guardian.
He urged viewers to file complaints with the city's 311 service, dedicated to handling rat infestations - and in some cases his efforts paid off.
'We had probably 100 complaints in one night in this one spot, and the city ended up coming by and getting rid of the rats at the construction site.'
Although Bollwerk, 36, was not fond of the creatures initially, he has been spurred on by the thousands of viewers who are fully fledged rat enthusiasts.
'I'm scared of them. Any time one comes running at me I jump. I don't want them anywhere near me,' Bollwerk said.
His viewers have served to both advise him where to go next to livestream the rats scuttling around, while some have even joined him on his tours around the city.
'I've had a daughter and father, and a husband and wife come with me. Anything you can think of: business owners have come out looking with me. There've been people from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; St Louis, Missouri; Oklahoma City; Vancouver, Canada; Los Angeles. It's crazy how much this brings people together,' Bollwerk explained.
Initially he began heading out and about between three and five times a week. There is no shortage of locations where city rats can be found.
The rodents are able to squeeze themselves under fences and through sidewalk cracks.
Outside restaurants where garbage can often be be piled several feet high rats can be find while outdoor dining sheds also provide refuge.
Far from the rats simply providing entertainment, Bollwerk believes his short films will ultimately help residents living in rat infested neighborhoods.
A rat scavenges for food on a sidewalk on 23rd Street near 6th Avenue in NYC last month
A rat climbs out of a box with food in it at on the platform at the Herald Square subway station
A rat sticks its head out of a garbage can as it hunts for food in Bogardus Plaza in Tribeca
'The fact that it's bringing awareness to an issue, and it's helping people in their neighborhoods – I think that's why I keep going out and doing it. And I'm meeting so many cool people through it that I would have never met,' he said.
New York City leaders have been trying to control the rodent population for generations with mixed results, but sightings of rats in parks, sidewalks and other places in the city have increased with things only getting steadily worse since the pandemic.
Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, rats survived a multimillion-dollar effort that aimed to reduce their numbers with more garbage pickups and better housing inspections in targeted neighborhoods.
The city even launched a program to use dry ice to suffocate rats in their hiding spots - but still the rats remain.
City officials insist they are winning in the war against rats with Kathleen Corradi designated the city's rat czar.
The rats know that the garbage bins are a haven for discarded food
In areas where rats are known to frequent, 'rat mitigation zones' have been designated where officials come in with rat poison while fining businesses or home owners if they are doing anything that might be encouraging rats to thrive.
Restaurants have also been told to put all food waste into containers rather than directly into garbage bags in the hope the additional barrier will make life harder for the rodents.
The city also launched its first 'Interactive Rat Map' with the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Harlem showing the most 'rat-tivity' in Manhattan.
Time will tell - but for now, the rats rule.
'We've had rats the size of crocs just running up and down the street,' said Ruth McDaniels, the president of her local tenants association in Harlem
Rats in New York City's sewers are harboring Covid, scientists warn, and they may be able to infect humans
PETA rep Ashley Byrne slammed efforts to carry out a rat cull.
Sleeping subway rider woke to find a huge rodent crawling on top of him
Subway riding rat sliding down a subway handrail
High end boutique, which also sells its products at Saks Fifth Avenue, was shut down due to this rodent's unplanned visit. The rat was seen browsing a plum-colored briefcase and hat worth $995 and $225, respectively
Social media stars Pizza Rat (left) and Bagel Rat (right)
Even jaded New Yorkers were both disgusted and impressed by 'Pizza Rat,' the plucky rodent seen dragging a large cheese slice down a subway stairwell
Two pizza rats battling over pizza in the subway
Donut Rat (left) and Coffee Rat (right)
A Chipotle restaurant in New York City was closed after it was overrun by rodents the size of small cats. One of the large vermin is seen being handled inside the store
Jose Rivera speared this humongous rat at a housing project in Brooklyn. It was three feet long. Even the cats are afraid of the rats. The rats get together and gang up on the cats.
