“A small group of us had met a few times regarding the marriage amendment once it was pushed onto the ballot,” Sallie VanHouten, a member of the group, told the Minnesota Independent. “We all had loved ones past and present who were LGBT. My precious sister had died last November at the age of 52 very tragically and, with the pain of that still tugging at my heart, the amendment was even harder to bear.”

She said all the group members “desperately” want the 2012 vote on the marriage amendment to fail.

“We wondered what a small group of straight people could do to honor our loved ones and make the future a little brighter for those young ones who feel hopeless or marginalized by this amendment,” she said.

The group’s mission is to change Minnesotans’ minds on LGBT equality: “Our main goal is to encourage thoughtful conversation on this issue.”

One of the ART’s first events will feature Randy Roberts Potts, the grandson of famed televangelist Oral Roberts. The group is bringing him to speaking engagements in Minneapolis, Rosemount and Winona over the next week.

“A friend of mine who is retired was watching Joy Behar during the day saw Randy on there and researched him and found his sermon at All Souls,” said VanHouten. “He sent it to me and I forwarded it to the group.”

In July, Potts gave a sermon at All Souls Church in Tulsa, Okla., about his experiences growing up gay at the evangelical compound created by his grandfather. Here’s that sermon:

She added, “We were all so moved by Randy we wondered could we get him here. Since it seemed to be the churches who were organizing on the other side of this we decided maybe Randy could offer a more welcoming side of this issue. His perspective being raised evangelical is unique and very heartfelt.”

VanHouten said what drives her, and the 9 other members of ART, is equality for the LGBT community.

“Andrew Wilfarht and my sister Nancy are gone how many more will be gone before full equality is a reality for LGBT persons,” she said.

Andrew Wilfahrt

Andrew’s Roundtable is named for Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in February. His parents, Jeff and Lori, have been sharing their stories of his life at speaking engagements around the country. At the Outserve conference in Las Vegas last weekend, Lori spoke about Andrew and the fight for equality:

“Andrew died protecting rights that he himself could not enjoy, especially the right to marry the person he loved,” Lori Wilfarht told Outserve.

Of the push to amend Minnesota’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage, she said, “The constitution our son died for was intended to protect rights, not deny them.”

The tycoon and the candidate talked about the Occupy Wall Street protests, fiscal issues and petroleum policy. But Bachmann made sure that callers knew that Trump was not endorsing her.

“He is not on the call this evening because he is endorsing my campaign for Presidency, he’s on the call this evening because he’s admired, he’s respected,” she said.

One caller wanted to know, “Where is the Republican leadership in regards to what appears to be a Marxist group down there on Wall Street?”

Bachmann dissed the Occupy Wall Street protesters before agreeing with part of their message.

“I think people are looking at this and try to figure out, is this a George Soros inspired protest down there? Are there legitimate grievances?” she said. “I think people look at Wall Street and they see a $700 billion blank check. I voted against that $700 billion blank check.”

Trump admitted that some protesters might have valid reasons to be scornful of Wall Street, but questioned the movement.

“I was in New York recently where you had—I wouldn’t call it a riot, but it got—you had thousands of people marching down Wall Street,” Trump said. “This is a group of in many cases very well-dressed, and I look at it and I say something has got to be done to break it up.”

The bulk of the conversation involved oil, both tapping U.S. oil and being smarter with OPEC. And both Trump and Bachmann though it would be a good idea to demand the Iraqis, Afghanis and Libyans give oil to the U.S. for free for “liberating” them.

“Constantly it’s the United States that are the chumps,” Bachmann said. “We constantly clean up everybody else’s mess. Look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, we should be getting paid back from these countries we have liberated.”

Trump agreed with Bachmann.

“In Libya, the rebels—that’s a very glamorous term, the rebels—they probably come from Iran,” he said of those opposing the Gaddafi regime. ”We are spending billions and billions of dollars. If six months ago, if they came to us and said we need help. if we would have said, ‘You know what? We are going to give you help but for the next 20 years, we get the 50 percent of your oil,’ you know what they would have said? ‘Absolutely! We will give you 75 percent.’”

Trump accused anti-Gaddafi fighters of opposing the United States in the Iraq War.

“They come from Iran in many cases and here we are spending billions of dollars and what do we get out of nothing,” Trump said. “In Iraq with the second largest oil fields in the world, we fight, we spent a trillion and a half, lost thousand of lives, great, great young people, what do we get?

Trump added that when the U.S. leaves Iraq at the end of the year, Iran will take the oil that should belong to the U.S.

“Now Iran, when we leave and you know we are not getting along with the government, Iran will come in and take over those oil reserves they are just waiting, waiting to take over the oil reserves because our leaders are just stupid. We are not smart people we have very pathetic leadership.

He concluded, “I have suggested we should have kept a percentage of the oil but also pay back the families who lost lives. In the old days to the victor go the spoils. Well, we don’t do that anymore. We spend a trillion and a half dollars and they are practically throwing us out of Iraq.

Bachmann added that it wasn’t fair for Iraqis to ask American forces to leave without giving the United States its oil. “We have just been kicked on this deal. We were trying to train their people. Iraq they spit at us and said we are not going to give immunity to the 5,000 Americans who were going to stay in Iraq and now all the money we have poured into Iraq, the lives we have poured into Iraq.”

She added, “This is a complete travesty, this is a complete disrespect for the United States.”

MnIndy file photo

Al Franken joined 12 other Democratic senators and one Republican in asking Senate leaders to act fast on Haiti.

“Robust and immediate U.S. assistance to Haiti in the wake of this catastrophe is vital to support stability in that fragile country, and is in our own national security interest,” read the senators’ message to both parties’ leaders.

Franken was one of several of Minnesota’s congressional delegation who had not issued statements on the earthquake in Haiti as of Wednesday night. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Reps. Jim Oberstar and Keith Ellison were quick out of the gate with press releases on the disaster.

Franken was wrapping up a trip to Afghanistan when the earthquake struck.

Photo: Army.mil via Flickr

While President Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan has been met with mixed reactions, one local company sees an upside to troop escalation. Edina-based ATK, formerly Alliant TechSystems, expects to see demand for bulletproof vests go up — and, after U.S. troops leave, a surge in ammunition sales to the Afghan army.

On Thursday, ATK’s interim CEO John Shroyer told a Credit Suisse conference that Obama’s strategy should boost demand for vests and other accessories, with more sales expected after U.S. forces leave. “We’re in a very good pole position as they get pulled out,” Shroyer said. “This Afghan weapons and ammo business, I see, as a huge opportunity for the company as that shift takes place.”

The Wall Street Journal lists ATK among potential “beneficiaries” of expected military spending spikes, and reports that the company has a contract to provide ammunition to the Afghan army.

Washington Technology ranked ATK on its list of the top 100 U.S. government contractors at number 37, with $581,514,667 in contracts in 2009.

Since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the U.S. has spent around $227 billion, according to Congressional Research Service. Adding 30,000 troops could cost around $20 billion a year, says Kenneth Mayer, professor in the Department of Political Science at University of Wisconsin, Madison.

These two particularly exquisite flow charts turned up over the last day or so: one from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that explains the counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan, obtained by NBC News’ Richard Engel, and the other mapping out the counterarguments on gay marriage, via University of Minnesota, Morris professor PZ Myers’ Pharyngula blog.

U.S. troops in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. Photo: Army.mil via Flickr

Minnesota’s congressional delegation weighed in Wednesday on President Obama’s plans for the war in Afghanistan with a mix of skepticism and cautious praise. Here’s a sampling of those reactions:

Rep. Tim Walz: “His speech tonight gave us some good information about not just the troop increase, but also the mission, the plan for withdrawal and the resources necessary to finish the job.

“I’m also committed to continuing to engage the public on this topic and to having the Administration fill in additional details about our strategy. We as a nation need to better understand the total cost of continuing to wage war, and also the cost to our national security if we choose not to continue our efforts in Afghanistan.”

Rep. Betty McCollum: “Tonight, President Obama did exactly what he told the American people he would do during the campaign – make Afghanistan a priority. I support the President’s commitment of additional resources to secure Afghanistan because achieving stability in that region is vital to the security of American families.

“All additional funding necessary to achieve stability in this region should not be put on America’s credit card, but paid for today. In a time of economic crisis, borrowing billions of dollars from China to pay for war in Afghanistan actually undermines our national security. Shared sacrifice means not only committing to fight a war but also committing to pay for it.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann: “After several long months of deliberation, I’m pleased that the President has not turned his back on Afghanistan. However, I sincerely hope that the President is truly committed to victory. While it’s important to acknowledge that U.S. forces will not be in Afghanistan forever, we must not have a concrete time line for withdrawal as it will ultimately hurt our effort and energize our enemies.”

Rep. John Kline: “In August, General McChrystal said we’re in danger of losing if we don’t provide our troops with the resources they need. I don’t want to send our sons and daughters – including my son, who is scheduled to return to Afghanistan early next year – into a situation we can’t win. Accordingly, I have deep concerns regarding whether the President is providing sufficient U.S. forces in order to achieve success in Afghanistan while building the Afghan National Security Forces to a level that can sustain security gains achieved by U.S. and NATO troops.”

“I also am concerned about any discussion of an ‘exit strategy’ or ‘end game’ that would telegraph to the Taliban and al-Qaeda the timeline necessary to run out the ‘Washington clock.’”

Rep. Jim Oberstar: “This was President Obama’s most poignant and forceful speech to date – he made a strong, intellectual case for expanding the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, stating clearly what the augmented force will do. He also made a compelling emotional appeal for stepping up the fight based on the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

I was impressed with the fact that he laid out a timetable for withdrawal rather than basing it on conditions under which a drawdown would occur. The latter hedges the issue, while a timetable makes a commitment to accomplish the mission without delay.

But he didn’t say how we will pay for it, and because of that I will have to reserve judgment until we see what specific requests he will make to Congress and what the true cost will be to the American people.”

Sen. Al Franken: “I am glad that the President has deliberated carefully and I will be closely examining the new strategy in the days and weeks ahead, starting with the testimony of Secretaries Gates and Clinton and Admiral Mullen this week. I go into that examination, quite frankly, skeptical about a strategy that involves a significant increase in the number of American troops. That is in no small part because I am deeply skeptical of the Afghan government.

“I need to be convinced that we have reliable partners in both Pakistan and Afghanistan; that the mission as outlined is achievable; that we are not making an open-ended commitment; and that there is a sensible way to pay for the war.”

MinnPost caught up with Reps. Keith Ellison and Collin Peterson, who each expressed some skepticism.

“I am concerned about the increased troop levels, but I am glad he at least has a specific plan he wants them to follow and a time limit to get them out,” Ellison said. He also said that helping the Afghanis build their civil society was encouraging

Peterson didn’t sound too convinced.

“It was a fine speech in terms of generalities,” Peterson said. “I’ve got some questions on some specifics of it.”

Pfc. Kham Xiong

At Ft. Hood Army Base today, President Obama honored the thirteen people killed Thursday in a shooting spree there, including St. Paul’s Pfc. Kham Xiong. Obama told of Xiong, a 23-year-old married father of three, who “came to America from Thailand as a small child” and later “followed his brother into the military because his family had a strong history of service.” He was set to begin his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. Xiong will be buried with honors at Fort Snelling National Cemetery following a traditional three-day Hmong funeral ceremony.

A day before Veteran’s Day, Obama said that “as we honor the many generations who have served, I think all of us – every single American – must acknowledge that this generation has more than proved itself the equal of those who have come before. We need not look to the past for greatness, because it is before our very eyes.”

Full text of Obama’s remarks:

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT MEMORIAL SERVICE AT FORT HOOD

Fort Hood – III Corps

Fort Hood, Texas

1:55 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT:  To the Fort Hood community; to Admiral Mullen; General Casey; General Cone; Secretary McHugh; Secretary Gates; most importantly, to family, friends and members of our Armed Forces.  We come together filled with sorrow for the 13 Americans that we have lost; with gratitude for the lives that they led; and with a determination to honor them through the work we carry on.

This is a time of war.  Yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle.  They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great state and the heart of this great American community.  This is the fact that makes the tragedy even more painful, even more incomprehensible.

For those families who have lost a loved one, no words can fill the void that’s been left.  We knew these men and women as soldiers and caregivers.  You knew them as mothers and fathers; sons and daughters; sisters and brothers.

But here is what you must also know:  Your loved ones endure through the life of our nation.  Their memory will be honored in the places they lived and by the people they touched.  Their life’s work is our security, and the freedom that we all too often take for granted.  Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — that is their legacy.

Neither this country — nor the values upon which we were founded — could exist without men and women like these 13 Americans.  And that is why we must pay tribute to their stories.

Chief Warrant Officer Michael Cahill had served in the National Guard and worked as a physician’s assistant for decades. A husband and father of three, he was so committed to his patients that on the day he died, he was back at work just weeks after having had a heart attack.

Major Libardo Eduardo Caraveo spoke little English when he came to America as a teenager.  But he put himself through college, earned a PhD, and was helping combat units cope with the stress of deployment.  He’s survived by his wife, sons and step-daughters.

Staff Sergeant Justin DeCrow joined the Army right after high school, married his high school sweetheart, and had served as a light wheeled mechanic and satellite communications operator.  He was known as an optimist, a mentor, and a loving husband and loving father.

After retiring from the Army as a major, John Gaffaney cared for society’s most vulnerable during two decades as a psychiatric nurse.  He spent three years trying to return to active duty in this time of war, and he was preparing to deploy to Iraq as a captain.  He leaves behind a wife and son.

Specialist Frederick Greene was a Tennessean who wanted to join the Army for a long time, and did so in 2008, with the support of his family.  As a combat engineer he was a natural leader, and he is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Specialist Jason Hunt was also recently married, with three children to care for.  He joined the Army after high school.  He did a tour in Iraq, and it was there that he reenlisted for six more years on his 21st birthday so that he could continue to serve.

Staff Sergeant Amy Krueger was an athlete in high school, joined the Army shortly after 9/11, and had since returned home to speak to students about her experience.  When her mother told her she couldn’t take on Osama bin Laden by herself, Amy replied: “Watch me.”

Private First Class Aaron Nemelka was an Eagle Scout who just recently signed up to do one of the most dangerous jobs in the service — diffuse bombs — so that he could help save lives. He was proudly carrying on a tradition of military service that runs deep within his family.

Private First Class Michael Pearson loved his family and loved his music, and his goal was to be a music teacher.  He excelled at playing the guitar, and could create songs on the spot and show others how to play.  He joined the military a year ago, and was preparing for his first deployment.

Captain Russell Seager worked as a nurse for the VA, helping veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress.  He had extraordinary respect for the military, and signed up to serve so that he could help soldiers cope with the stress of combat and return to civilian life.  He leaves behind a wife and son.

Private Francheska Velez, daughter of a father from Colombia and a Puerto Rican mother, had recently served in Korea and in Iraq, and was pursuing a career in the Army.  When she was killed she was pregnant with her first child, and was excited about becoming a mother.

Lieutenant Colonel Juanita Warman was the daughter and granddaughter of Army veterans.  She was a single mom who put herself through college and graduate school, and served as a nurse practitioner while raising her two daughters.  She also left behind a loving husband.

Private First Class Kham Xiong came to America from Thailand as a small child.  He was a husband and father who followed his brother into the military because his family had a strong history of service.  He was preparing for his first deployment to Afghanistan.

These men and women came from all parts of the country.  Some had long careers in the military.  Some had signed up to serve in the shadow of 9/11.  Some had known intense combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some cared for those did.  Their lives speak to the strength, the dignity, the decency of those who serve, and that’s how they will be remembered.

For that same spirit is embodied in the community here at Fort Hood, and in the many wounded who are still recovering.  As was already mentioned, in those terrible minutes during the attack, soldiers made makeshift tourniquets out of their clothes. They braved gunfire to reach the wounded, and ferried them to safety in the backs of cars and a pickup truck.

One young soldier, Amber Bahr, was so intent on helping others, she did not realize for some time that she, herself, had been shot in the back.  Two police officers — Mark Todd and Kim Munley — saved countless lives by risking their own.  One medic — Francisco de la Serna — treated both Officer Munley and the gunman who shot her.

It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy.  But this much we do know — no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor.  For what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice — in this world, and the next.

These are trying times for our country.  In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the same extremists who killed nearly 3,000 Americans continue to endanger America, our allies, and innocent Afghans and Pakistanis.  In Iraq, we’re working to bring a war to a successful end, as there are still those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that Americans and Iraqis have sacrificed so much for.

As we face these challenges, the stories of those at Fort Hood reaffirm the core values that we are fighting for, and the strength that we must draw upon.  Theirs are the tales of American men and women answering an extraordinary call — the call to serve their comrades, their communities, and their country.  In an age of selfishness, they embody responsibility.  In an era of division, they call upon us to come together.  In a time of cynicism, they remind us of who we are as Americans.

We are a nation that endures because of the courage of those who defend it.  We saw that valor in those who braved bullets here at Fort Hood, just as surely as we see it in those who signed up knowing that they would serve in harm’s way.

We are a nation of laws whose commitment to justice is so enduring that we would treat a gunman and give him due process, just as surely as we will see that he pays for his crimes.

We’re a nation that guarantees the freedom to worship as one chooses.  And instead of claiming God for our side, we remember Lincoln’s words, and always pray to be on the side of God.

We’re a nation that is dedicated to the proposition that all men and women are created equal.  We live that truth within our military, and see it in the varied backgrounds of those we lay to rest today.  We defend that truth at home and abroad, and we know that Americans will always be found on the side of liberty and equality.  That’s who we are as a people.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day.  It’s a chance to pause, and to pay tribute — for students to learn the struggles that preceded them; for families to honor the service of parents and grandparents; for citizens to reflect upon the sacrifices that have been made in pursuit of a more perfect union.

For history is filled with heroes.  You may remember the stories of a grandfather who marched across Europe; an uncle who fought in Vietnam; a sister who served in the Gulf.  But as we honor the many generations who have served, all of us — every single American — must acknowledge that this generation has more than proved itself the equal of those who’ve come before.

We need not look to the past for greatness, because it is before our very eyes.

This generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have volunteered in the time of certain danger. They are part of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known.  They have served tour after tour of duty in distant, different and difficult places.  They have stood watch in blinding deserts and on snowy mountains.  They have extended the opportunity of self-government to peoples that have suffered tyranny and war.  They are man and woman; white, black, and brown; of all faiths and all stations — all Americans, serving together to protect our people, while giving others half a world away the chance to lead a better life.

In today’s wars, there’s not always a simple ceremony that signals our troops’ success — no surrender papers to be signed, or capital to be claimed.  But the measure of the impact of these young men and women is no less great — in a world of threats that no know borders, their legacy will be marked in the safety of our cities and towns, and the security and opportunity that’s extended abroad.  It will serve as testimony to the character of those who served, and the example that all of you in uniform set for America and for the world.

Here, at Fort Hood, we pay tribute to 13 men and women who were not able to escape the horror of war, even in the comfort of home.  Later today, at Fort Lewis, one community will gather to remember so many in one Stryker Brigade who have fallen in Afghanistan.

Long after they are laid to rest — when the fighting has finished, and our nation has endured; when today’s servicemen and women are veterans, and their children have grown — it will be said that this generation believed under the most trying of tests; believed in perseverance — not just when it was easy, but when it was hard; that they paid the price and bore the burden to secure this nation, and stood up for the values that live in the hearts of all free peoples.

So we say goodbye to those who now belong to eternity.  We press ahead in pursuit of the peace that guided their service. May God bless the memory of those that we have lost.  And may God bless the United States of America.

A Chinook helicopter flies over Afghanistan (U.S. Army photo)

WASHINGTON — Last year, as Dr. Steven Miles, professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and faculty member of its Center for Bioethics, was researching the deaths of detainees in U.S. custody, he noticed something strange. Although the Department of Defense had in the past issued press releases when detainees died at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, at some point in 2006, he says, the “entire prisoner death reporting system was turned off in Afghanistan.” Although at that time deaths in Iraq were still being reported, he says, that system was “turned off” at the beginning of 2008.

Miles, a member of the board of the Center for Victims of Torture and author of “Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity and America’s War on Terror,” was working on an updated edition of his 2006 book, which documents how physicians and psychologists working for the U.S. military violated the Hippocratic oath and American Medical Association rules by helping the government design and monitor abusive interrogations. The Hippocratic oath requires doctors to consider above all the health of their patients and to do no harm, while an AMA directive prohibits physicians from “providing or withholding any services, substances, or knowledge to facilitate the practice of torture” and obliges doctors to support victims and to “strive to change situations in which torture is practiced.”

Instead, Miles documented, first in the British medical journal the Lancet and then more expansively in his book, physicians actually helped facilitate torture. “The medical system collaborated with designing and implementing psychologically and physically coercive interrogations” in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, he wrote. Death certificates were falsified and military health officers were either reporting instances of torture late, or not reporting them at all, he found. And, he observes in the Appendix to the book’s second edition, titled “Oath Betrayed: America’s Torture Doctors,” published by University of California Press this year, the military appeared to be using physicians and psychologists to test the reactions of detainees to particular interrogation techniques, which may well violate ethical bans on experimentation on human subjects. Physicians for Human Rights recently released a report documenting similar concerns.

As Miles was working on his book, he realized there were huge gaps in the military’s reporting about the torture, injury and death of detainees in its custody. Although Miles says the Pentagon never reported the deaths of detainees subjected to “extraordinary rendition” — those sent to other countries for interrogation, sometimes under torture — the Pentagon had, at least, been reporting the deaths of some prisoners it acknowledged having in its custody.

Then one day, the press releases stopped. “They just stopped reporting it,” said Miles last week. It couldn’t be that no one died, he said, because “you have a certain expected death rate based on the size of the population. I’ve been able to trace all public death reports and can show when they turned them off.”

Last week, the Washington Independent first reported that the Department of Defense appears to have stopped releasing information about the deaths of detainees in its custody in Afghanistan and Iraq. (It has continued to release them concerning detainees at Guantanamo, most of whom are represented by lawyers.) Despite numerous daily requests for a response from the Pentagon since the middle of last week, the site has still not received any information from the government about whether or why it stopped issuing these reports for its other detention centers abroad.

Miles, meanwhile, has used his findings to write an article about the Pentagon’s failure to disclose detainee deaths and their causes. The paper is now being prepared for publication in the American Journal of Bioethics, a leading bioethics journal and website. In his paper, Miles writes:

In May 2004, shortly after media published photographs of lethal abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, DoD disclosed 22 prisoner deaths; of which 12 (54%) were attributed to natural causes. DOD did not disclose another 67 deaths that occurred during that same period. Only 13 (15%) of the total 89 deaths were due to natural causes. By the end of 2008, 93 of 165 known decedents (56%) are unnamed. Death certificates are available for 37 (22%). Homicides and shelling of prisons are the leading causes of death. DoD has completely suppressed prisoner death reports from Afghanistan since 2004 and adopted a similar policy for Iraq in 2008.

That the government has concealed or delayed reporting on deaths in its custody is nothing new. The New York Times reported in 2004 that the Defense Department had provided incomplete or inaccurate information about deaths of prisoners in its custody. And Human Rights First, a leading human rights legal advocacy organization, in a comprehensive report in 2006 documented similar gaps in the government’s reporting of deaths in U.S. custody.

“Our report found that commanders failed to report deaths in custody,” said Devon Chaffee, advocacy counsel with Human Rights First. “Sometimes they reported them days or weeks later. But there clearly was a reporting problem. Some were simply not reported at all,” she said, although Army regulations require that deaths in U.S. custody be reported within 24 hours.

Human Rights First’s report, Command’s Responsibility, based on its study of autopsy reports and interviews with military personnel, witnesses and physicians, found that between August 2002 and February 2006 nearly 100 detainees had died “while in the hands of U.S. officials in the global ‘war on terror.’” Although the military had deemed 34 of those deaths suspected or confirmed homicides, Human Rights First counted a total of 45 cases where the facts suggested “death as a result of physical abuse or harsh conditions of detention.” What’s more, in almost half the cases surveyed, “the cause of death remains officially undetermined or unannounced.” Overall, the group found, by the beginning of 2006, “eight people in U.S. custody were tortured to death.”

The international Geneva Conventions, which govern the treatment of prisoners in wartime, requires each signatory country to report publicly the deaths of detainees in its custody. But because President Bush early on decided that detainees in the “war on terror” are not technically “Prisoners of War” entitled to the protections the Geneva Conventions, the U.S. military has not followed that requirement.

The Obama administration does not appear to have changed the reporting policy, although at least some officials in the administration have declared the “war on terror” over. Still, the Pentagon under President Obama has not resumed regular reporting on the deaths of prisoners in custody, says Miles. The system is “still shut down,” he said. “Obama hasn’t opened it up. It’s just mysterious to me.”

The Washington Independent has called and written to officials in the Defense Department at least six different times in the last week, asking for a response to this claim about its reporting and for a statement of the current policy on reporting detainee deaths. Late yesterday, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed that the DoD issues press releases when detainees die at Guantanamo Bay; the Washington Independent still has not received an answer with regard to the deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Regardless of the DoD policy, however, the result of the suppression of this information is that no one seems to know how many detainees in U.S. custody have died – including how many of those have been murdered or tortured to death – since the “war on terror” began.

Chafee said that Human Rights First and other human rights organizations, as far as she knows, have not had the resources to update their reports to keep an accurate count.

Representatives for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights said those organizations have not been able to track those numbers, either. Both have sought information from the government related to detainee deaths through the Freedom of Information Act.

Daphne Eviatar is a law reporter for the Washington Independent.

Minnesota Public Radio’s News Cut posts three photos that show today’s event  from different angles, with not even a telltale mullet in sight. Here is a shot of Pawlenty with a second-row seat in Munich for an address by Karzai:

President Hamid Karzai and Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Photo: Sebastien Zwez

American troops have remained in Afghanistan since Oct. 7, 2001. (Photo: army.mil)

As Afghanistan’s profile rises in America’s foreign-war portfolio, political progressives — both nationally and closer to home — are putting increasing emphasis on questions of troop escalation and United States policy there. In Minnesota, progressive activity on Afghanistan is taking the form of discussion, demonstrations and the formation of a new coalition focused on pressuring the state’s congressional delegation.

One leading national effort is a new Web site called Get Afghanistan Right, which went online only a week or so ago. But the site’s got star power behind it, including Alex Thurston and Jason Rosenbaum of the liberal blog The Seminal; filmmaker Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films; and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine.

As Spencer Ackerman writes in the Minnesota Independent’s sister site the Washington Independent, “The effort so far focuses on fostering a debate within progressive circles before talking to a broader and more ideologically diverse audience.”

That’s akin to Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer’s approach at the moment. He’s the University of St. Thomas professor of justice and peace studies who last year ran to Al Franken’s left in the race to carry the DFL Party banner against then-U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

“The conversation’s really just beginning,” Nelson-Pallmeyer tells MnIndy. He wrote an op-ed in the Jan. 18 Duluth News-Tribune linking America’s militarism to the “crumbling economic mess” the country finds itself in. ”We’re not talking about street protests [over Afghanistan] yet,” he says, “but people are really ready for this conversation, about the U.S. taking a different role in the world.”

 

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer says new presidents are pressured to be "appropriately militaristic."

“We’re always at the street protest phase,” Beaudoin says. “We do whatever we can.” That includes holding educational events, sending action alerts to a large e-mail list and helping coalitions form quickly as particular issues, such as Gaza, arise.

Meanwhile, a new coalition is now forming under the working title Minnesota Peace Lobby, readying what co-organizer Roxanne Abbas promises will be a concerted effort to persuade Minnesota’s representatives in Congress to focus on peace issues. The organization includes members in each congressional district to combine the resources of 74 peace groups so they can speak with one voice to elected officials in Washington, Abbas says.

The idea arose from a suggestion by former U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad’s staff, who found it frustrating to deal with the plethora of peace advocates separately.

“We’re focused only on lobbying,” Abbas says. “No protest, education, trying to convince mass media to pay attention.”

One of the group’s main issues will be Afghanistan, though Iraq, Guantanamo, and nuclear non-proliferation are also on the agenda.

But with President Obama moving quickly on promises he made during a campaign in which he spoke frequently about increasing troop levels in Afghanistan, and his defense secretary talking up the war there, are Minnesota’s progressives already too late?

“I’m very, very concerned about that,” says Nelson-Pallmeyer. “There are enormous pressures on a new president to demonstrate that he is willing to use [the military], that he’s appropriately militaristic.”

Many on the left have gotten used to framing Iraq as “a bad war that took our eyes off a good one [in Afghanistan],” he said.

And people relieved to see the new president in office may be loathe to pressure him so soon in his administration.

“Maybe there’s more of a reluctance among progressives who embraced Obama to want to give him time.”