Author: R J Adams

We all adore our pets, but do we focus all our love for animals on them, or is some left over for the less fortunate dogs and cats – like those which end up in the testing laboratories of Menu Foods of Ontario, Canada, who have recently recalled millions of tins of pet food, when some pets contracted kidney failure and died as a result of eating it.

Sad, you may think, but even more appalling – at least to this writer – is that following the allegations, the company fed their product to a further fifty dogs and cats in their laboratories, then waited while seven of them died. All, apparently, with the knowledge and approval of the FDA.

This was widely reported in the media, yet no-one showed any shock or surprise at the revelation. Given the modern analytical techniques available, the only possible reason for using dogs and cats to determine the toxicity of the product, was cost. It saved the company money. Except, of course, it didn’t. Seven dead animals later, the company still hadn’t a clue what was causing the toxicity, and further analytical tests have to be implemented.

Such concern at the needless deaths of seven domestic animals may seem petty, given the human losses in Iraq and others around the world, but there is a bigger issue to be considered. It concerns ourselves. We shower love and affection on our pets, yet no pet owners have complained at the manner in which Menu Foods has conducted its “research” into the matter. Because the cats and dogs condemned to die by Menu Foods are no-one’s pets, it becomes acceptable to sacrifice them, just so long as our pets may live.

That’s a fine example of truly selfish love. It smacks of George Bush’s ideal of inflicting pain, suffering and death on another nation so America does not have to fight the “terrorists” on its own turf.

The deaths of other, nameless creatures – whether animals or Iraqis – are less important than the lives of American citizens, or in this instance, their pets.

The whole incident highlights how grotesque our industries have become. Menu Foods (owned by Menu Foods Income Fund, would you believe?) manufactures 53 separate brands of dog food and 42 separate brands of cat food for the retail industry, and also supplies contract pet food to other multi-national companies like Nestle. Yet it only employs 958 staff.

Next time you dither in front of Wal-Mart’s pet-food array wondering which of the many delectables little Tibbles or Rover would fancy for his dinner, just remember that most of them will have been manufactured by Menu Foods, and while the labeling and pricing may vary substantially, the odds are that the contents of them all will be fundamentally the same.

Filed under: Animal sacrifice

I guess we all feel a severe onset of head pain from time to time, the result of perpetually bashing our literary brows against the rock solid insanity of political arrogance and moral ineptitude. While it’s probably unnecessary to seek professional help at these times, the equivalent of a dose of Tylenol is prescribed in the form of a break, away from the seemingly endless cycle of violence and bloodshed heaped upon us by those egocentric politicians with their petty wars and constantly regurgitating international squabbles.

Hence the absence of Sparrow Chat articles over the last week. It’s been a time of relaxation, physical exercise, enjoyment of the more positive virtues, and the planning of ten days away across the ocean among the hills and mountains of my beloved Wales; a trip not destined to occur until June, and marred only by the fact my lovely wife will not be accompanying me on this occasion. Spending a week of that time hill walking with a lifelong friend will be some measure of compensation.

Since my last posting on March 16th, the news has varied little from the routine that has dominated our lives these past four years. Iraq, four years on, is the centerpiece of a week long series on BBC World, so far illustrating the utter worthlessness of the joint US/UK invasion as a means of freeing the Iraqi people from tyranny and providing them with the joys of a democratic capitalist society. The vast majority of those Iraqis still remaining in their country, with the exception of the Kurds in the north, are utterly pessimistic of any improvement over the next twelve months. Even the Vice President, Tareq al-Hashemi, has hinted that talks to bring all sides around a negotiating table are unlikely to succeed while the American occupation continues. For Iraqis trying to get out of the country – over two million are already thought to have fled – trying to get hold of a valid passport is both highly dangerous and next to impossible.

Summing up Iraq four years on, John Simpson, the BBC’s World Affairs Editor and Iraq expert, says:

“The most common sight, apart from police and army roadblocks, are the black banners on walls and fences announcing people’s deaths. And the most common feeling you come across is a kind of slow-burning, gloomy anger. These things represent a major failure of the hopes and expectations which many Iraqis entertained four years ago…….”

The rest of his article, from Monday 19th March, can be read HERE.

Probably the most pessimistic news out of the Middle East this week has been the refusal of both the US and the EU to recognize the new unity government of Palestine. It was no mean achievement to reconcile the various factions, and Palestinian leaders should be given some measure of reward for their efforts. As should the Palestinian people, who have been forced into even more suffering and hardship for daring to exercise their democratic right and elect a government of their choosing. They desperately need the finances so harshly withdrawn when Hamas came to power. Israel is, of course, refusing to acknowledge the unity government and still holds millions of dollars in taxes – the property of Palestinians – until Hamas renounces violence and recognizes Israel’s right to exist.

Condoleeza Rice’s refusal to release funding and work with the Palestinian government comes as no surprise whatever. The US continues to link arms with Israel in demanding the Palestinians dance to their tune. The European Union’s acquiescence to American demands is sickening in the extreme and leaves one wondering how long this body will continue pandering to the whims of US arrogance and aggression.

Two days ago the Norwegian deputy foreign minister, Raymond Johansen, pledged his country’s support for the new government in a meeting with the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniya. Mister Johansen said afterwards:

“We hope that all the European countries, and even other countries, will support this unity government………We hope that this unity government will work hard in order to fulfill the expectations from the international community.”

Mister Johansen was immediately snubbed by Israel, who refuse to have anything to do with the new Palestinian government. Norway is not, of course, a member of the European Community.

On a final note, I am not flying American Airways to the UK in June. I have chosen my usual carrier, British Midland. The case of James Yates from Ohio makes me glad I did. Yates was one of three pilots on an American Airways flight from Manchester, England to Chicago in February 2006, when he was stopped at the security gate for being drunk after a night “on the town”. This week a British jury found Yates “not guilty” of “carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function while over the drink limit” after they were told he only went to the airport to tell his captain he was unfit for work and would not be joining the crew. It may have been easier to use a telephone, but the jury obviously accepted his explanation, and so might I – had I not read THIS BBC ARTICLE from June 2006 stating that in an earlier court hearing Yates denied being “unfit for duty”.

British justice, it seems, has a very short memory.

Filed under: More bad news

There is not one iota of doubt that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a ruthless and extremely dangerous individual. Sufficient evidence exists of his involvement in various terrorist acts around the world over two decades, to put him away for the rest of his life. Of course, dependent on where he is brought to justice, the rest of his life may not be very long.

The catalogue of crimes and potential crimes he purports to have been involved with is so long as to be almost incredulous. He was held for at least three years in secret CIA prisons and subjected to interrogation techniques that the President of the United States described as definitely “not torture” (this ABC News account from November 2005 will allow you to judge the truth of that). It will likely never be known just how deeply involved Khalid Sheikh Mohammed really was in the plots he confessed to, and how much was due to “interrogation techniques”, or merely the result of an over-imaginative ego.

The brutal and underhand manner in which the “allies” have conducted their so-called “war on terror” has left those of us still grimly clinging to the few ethics we have left, unable to believe anything we are told by the leaders entrusted with our welfare. Both in America and Britain, the nations’ top politicians have betrayed the people with their lies and “spin”.

George Bush told Americans the interrogation techniques used by the CIA were “necessary”. He said, “America does not torture.”

He was wrong. Waterboarding cannot be classified as anything other than torture, and was so described by America in the Tokyo War Crimes Trials immediately following the end of WW2.

Writer Robin Rowland, researching his latest book, “A River Kwai Story: F Force and the Sonkrai Tribunal” certainly agrees with that conclusion. As someone who has thoroughly researched Japanese forms of torture for his book, he presents a view difficult to counter.

There seems to be an effort within this American administration to justify their actions as a means to an end, as though they can accurately define the fine line between coercion and torture. Websters defines “torture” as “anguish of body or mind”. Not necessarily physical pain, then, but “anguish of mind”.

According to the ABC News report (link above) tough CIA operatives who were voluntarily subjected to waterboarding lasted an average of 14 seconds. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was “admired” for lasting upto two and a half minutes “before begging to confess”. Little wonder then he has admitted to over thirty terrorist plots and involvements.

As John Sifton of Human Rights Watch states in the ABC report, “The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law.”

We will probably never learn the true facts about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Either his confessions were accurate, or he is lying to protect others who may consequently remain at large to commit further terrorist acts. US and British politicians may well pat themselves on the back, once Sheikh Mohammed has gone through the secret military tribunals, been found guilty and suitably punished, but likely it will be a short-lived celebration. The methods they have used, despised by all decent human beings, leave no basis for trusting the accuracy of their results. In factual terms, we know no more about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed than we did before his capture.

Torture elicits only the confessions the torturers wish to hear. Use of such barbarous techniques by those sworn to uphold justice and human rights for all is not only a living perjury of the oath, but will almost certainly have created an even more dangerous world for us to live in.

Filed under: War criminals