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Shame
on You Senators Feingold and Leahy [Draft Bill S. 3757]
By
Tecola W. Hagos
September
5, 2010
Courage
is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is
more important than fear. ~Ambrose
Redmoon
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Every
man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the
courage of other persons. ~Ralph
Waldo Emerson
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Courage
is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to
sit down and listen.
~Winston
Churchill
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Since
1993, Senator Russell Feingold had sponsored or coauthored or cosponsored
literally over a thousand draft Bills;
Senator Patrick Leahy who had been in the Senate for much longer
period since 1974 had countless draft Bills to his name.
However, most drafts did not result in any Bills. To pick the case
of Senator Feingold first, in all such draft Bills he authored or
cosponsored there is not a single time where he addressed the problematic
Government of Issayas Afeworki or Eritrea in any direct effort to censor
the human rights abuse in Eritrea, the detention and murder of high
ranking officials by Issayas Afeworki, and against his governing of
Eritrea without a Constitution for the last 18 years. As far as I know,
Senator Feingold had never publicly mentioned even as a passing remark the
Palestinian occupation and the suffering of a people daily terrorized and
occasionally bombed, quarantined, and marginalized. Senator Feingold is a
Jew, a Caucasian Senator from
Wisconsin
. He is a hypocrite who is once again swinging his Senatorial ax of
destruction and dismemberment at the sovereign nation of
Ethiopia
.
On the other hand, it is
both a puzzle and a great disappointment to me to witness the stain of
injustice on the hands of Senator Leahy, a seasoned long time champion of
basic decent human relationships among people of different ethnicity and
background. I had admired Senator Leahy for sometime in the past for being
a truly righteous man. Now, I am having second thoughts. I think he had
fallen among groups whom he did not truly understand and is being used by
those negative forces in compromising the interest and continued existence
of
Ethiopia
. In all my years in the
United States
, I have never seen anything as vicious and as pure an evil aimed at any
one single country and its people for nothing as is done against
Ethiopia
by some American politicians in the last twenty years. I believe Senator
Leahy is making a dreadful mistake in judgment and hopefully would rectify
his errors soon.
A few years back, being
irked by the injustice of targeting Ethiopia for destruction by Senator
Feingold and Representative Payne using the prestige and power of the
Congress of the United States, I wrote an open letter and posted it in my
Website plainly stating that Senator Feingold and his comrade in arms
Congressman Donald Payne�s activities of introducing draft Bills, using
their Congressional/Senatorial privileges, to promote what seems to be a
personal obsession and/or vendetta against Ethiopia is most destructive
and a threat to the territorial integrity of a Sovereign State. Donald
Payne is more like on calls doing the work of a common lobbyist on behalf
of
Eritrea
�s Leader. Shamefully, these people are Democrats who seem to be the
disciples of the former President Bill Clinton with his screwed-up moral
compass and his esoteric foreign relations antics with advisors such as
Anthony Lake, who were instrumental in the illegal secession of Eritrea
and the landlocking of Ethiopia through the devise of the Algiers
Agreement that gave birth to the corrupt
Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Commission that was chaired by Sir Elihu
Lauterpacht.
The real reason for the
draft Bill �Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of
2010,� S. 3757 sponsored by Sen.
Russell Feingold (D-WI) with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) as a co-sponsor
(August 5, 2010) is to benefit Eritrea through
the scheme that was part of the Clinton Administration�s fraudulent
involvement as a broker of �Peace� while promoting the single interest
of Eritrea and its own, by setting up a corrupt arbitration entity called
the Ethiopia-Eritrea
Border Commission where the outcome of any of its decision was
already predetermined by the Algiers Agreement of 2000 concessionary
provisions that resurrected long dead and defective colonial period
international instruments of over one hundred years ago. In section 3 (5)
of the Senate draft Bill it is clearly stated:
�to
seek a resolution of the ongoing dispute between the Government of
Ethiopia and the Government of Eritrea consistent with the
Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Commission arbitration decisions on border
demarcation, to press the Government of Eritrea to cease all support for
armed opposition groups in Ethiopia and the region, and to urge both
Governments to contribute constructively to stability throughout the Horn
of Africa, especially in Somalia.�
The rest of the Bill is
just window dressing. It sole purpose is to enforce an outrageous and
illegal landlocking of Ethiopia by taking away its coastal territories of
Afar and all of its territorial waters on the Red Sea to benefit Eritrea.
Why would anyone insert such a provision demanding the enforcement of the
invalid pronouncement of a corrupt Commission if the Bill is meant to
promote democracy in
Ethiopia
?
What is appalling is how
ignorant and presumptuous those groups of people of the Clinton
Administration were toward the fabulous history of one of the great
ancient nations on planet Earth. It would have helped them to put
Ethiopia
in the proper light and the right perspective had they just for a moment
looked back on their own history. With their pseudo-Marxist view of
history, they seem to live in a fantasy world-view that holds that States
were gifts delivered to the Twenty First Century neatly packaged with
niceties. One need not travel far to learn a great lesson and be modest
about once outlook about statehood. I invite you all to consider the
nation building process of the United States itself, and in that context
think of the massacre of the indigenous people that took place until the
end of the Civil War, some call it genocide, the horror of slavery, the
murderous Civil War itself et cetera. The brutality of few of Ethiopian
leaders compared to the atrocities committed by leaders here or elsewhere
in the world should not be used to inflict permanent damage to the
existence of
Ethiopia
. Thus, Senators Feingold and Leahy are best advised to show modesty and
restraint than go about with their half-cocked ideas to reform
Ethiopia
�s Government by Bills from the Congress of the
United States
enforcing the decision of a lopsided corrupt decision of an arbitration
Commission instituted pursuant to an invalid Agreement.
National integrity and
independence is no joking matter for Ethiopians, and
Ethiopia
cannot be trifled with by people who had never experienced in their own
history the longevity and independence of life as first class citizens of
a three thousand year old ancient Nation and its people. It is to our
great credit that Ethiopians withstood the attacks of the Ottomans, the
Arabs, the English, and the Italians and survived and lived to withstand
further no less devastating intrigue and hidden blows of those who
professed their friendship on the surface but are as vicious. If Ethiopian
leaders lapse in their leadership mission a few times during such a long
history, what is the big deal? Nevertheless, one need not ignore the
possibility that the whole thing is another game of betrayal that Meles
Zenawi is also playing behind the scene. True, we have recently terrible
leaders such as Mengistu Hailemariam and now the current Ethiopian Leader
Meles Zenawi. We are talking here in the three thousand history of
Ethiopia
. By contrast, look at the much shorter two hundred years history of the
United States
, and yet one could easily identify more than a dozen horrible leaders
during such short history.
In the draft Bill
�Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of 2010,� S.
3757, under
section 2, what is asserted as �findings� is just garbage, except for
a single case of Birtukan Mideksa that is included to give legitimacy to
the rest of claimed findings. The alleged �findings� even if they are
true could only be considered as symptoms rather than the disease that had
been infesting the region and targeting
Ethiopia
. Do not make any mistake, for
Ethiopia
alone is the target of the concerted Arab hostilities in that part of the
World. No where in the �findings� is mentioned the terroristic
anti-Ethiopia Jihad declared by Somali Islamist insurrectionists and the
Taliban activities in the region. It does not mention the Government of
Egypt and the Arab League and their occasional verbal threats against
Ethiopia
, nor does it mention the intimate relationship that the Eritrean
Government has with such Arab Governments. How about the continued
belligerence of the Eritrean Government attacking
Djibouti
and ever antagonizing the African Union?
This half-backed
Senatorial effort will not do. Both Senators Leahy and Feingold, shame on
you for your dishonesty and misleading �findings.�
What have you gained from such outrageous statements simply blaming
the victim of concerted campaign by the historic enemies of
Ethiopia
? You cannot claim ignorance for you have access to intelligence reports
compiled by very many agencies. How much money does Saudi Arabia, along
with Egypt, Iraq, the Gulf Emirates, et cetera expend financing and arming
and instigating hostilities against Ethiopia? We all know
Eritrea
is a poor country. Where do you think all this weapon that the Eritrean
Government is distributing is coming from? Senators Feingold and Leahy do
not claim you are doing all these for the benefit of Ethiopians? You are
promoting the goals of
Ethiopia
�s historic enemies to destroy
Ethiopia
for some convoluted mind bending reasons of your own. You do not, simply
put, make sense!
Since neither of you
Senators are Native Americans, you must be immigrants or descended from
immigrants. In case of Senator Leahy, you are descended from Irish and
Italian ancestors, who probably migrated from
Europe
due to economic hardship. In your particular case, Senator Feingold, you
might be a descendant of East European Jews or from the
Austria-Hungary-German region who migrated to this country probably
because of persecution. Had it occurred to you that if your ancestors had
not lost their home base in the Middle East long ago, your immediate
ancestors would not have suffered such prolonged persecutions and pogroms
in
Europe
? Above anyone else you should know the reality when people lose their
nation and identity through the breakup of their social and political
structure that their destruction is very easily achieved. The breakup and
destruction of
Ethiopia
would be our future reality if one follows your scheme of using
Congressional/Senatorial Bills against
Ethiopia
. What would you have gained
from such destruction of
Ethiopia
? An enhanced Arab dominance furthermore threatening the stability of the
region against the national interest of the
United States
? How could anyone support such asinine regional policy?
Here is truly a laughable
and ignoramus litany listed under Section 2 of the draft Bill, where
Senator Feingold and his cosponsor Senator Leahy are trashing
Ethiopia
while turning a blind eye to the more insidious activities of the Eritrean
Government or leaders even the United Nations Security Council sanctioned.
In the new Senate draft Bill, Feingold and Leahy have included, in a
dishonest manner what is actually a contested situation, a �findings�
that listed twelve items including that
Ethiopia
has refused to abide by the decision of the Ethiopia-Eritrea
Border Commission. The issues are unresolved whether or not the
Commission itself in the first place has any legitimacy at all, and also
whether the Commission had rendered a legitimate last decision since both
parties to the dispute did not comply with the request of the Arbitration
Commission and have literally abandoned the arbitration process in its
last stage. Under such circumstances the Ethiopia-Eritrea
Border Commission simply should have withdrawn and removed itself
from further arbitration process and voided the activities of the
Commission.
The questionable
�demarcation� that is the focus of the draft Bill was carried out by
the Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Commission
on aerial pictures adopted on its own outside of what is provided for in
the Arbitration agreement. The Commission gave as its reason for carrying
out such procedure to be due to the fact that the parties were not
cooperative. Arbitration is not a court process, and cannot proceed
without the full participation of the parties. Here we have Senators
Feingold and Leahy trying to resurrect an arbitration process that was
corrupted, and is dead and dysfunctional, through the backdoor.
I find such activity of enforcing the decision of an arbitration
commission using the United States Congress to be dishonest, undue
interference in the internal affairs of a Sovereign State, and also
criminal under the laws of Ethiopia. The United States as a nation has no
particular right to interfere whether or not some arbitration is carried
through in a third country, especially an arbitration that is corrupted by
third parties interferences and instituted based on an invalid Algiers
Agreement.
In as far as the so called
border arbitration goes, Sir Elihu Lauterpacht and the rest of the Ethiopia-Eritrea
Border Commission members are criminals who should be indicted for
a number of violations under the Penal Code of Ethiopia. This might also
include Feingold and Payne and others who use the Congress of the
United States
as their cover to carry out criminal activities against the Sovereignty
and territorial integrity of a sovereign Country. It will not surprise me
if we dig a little deeper we will find the hands of the Government of
Eritrea and Arab Governments working through their highly paid lobbyists
trying to force Ethiopia to accept an illegal and invalid arbitration
demarcations and pronouncements based on an illegal and invalid Algiers
Agreement.
Due to the one-sided Algiers Agreement, the Ethiopia-Eritrea
Border Commission as a whole was working right from its inception
preempted for the exclusive interest of
Eritrea
and third parties interests such as that of the
United States
against the legitimate interest of
Ethiopia
. There was also gross conflict of interest, for the Chairman of the
Commission, Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, was retained as a lawyer by the
United States
in its case against
Mexico
. [See ICJ case Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (
Mexico
v.
United States of America
) I. C. J. Reports 2004] In addition, the
United States
is an interested party that has repeatedly expressed its preference of the
�Eritrean� claims; at the same time Lauterpacht was working as
Chairman of the Commission he was also being paid by the United States
Government. If this is not a conflict of interest, show me what is? As a
reminder Article 23 of the 1899 basic document that created the Permanent
Court of Arbitration [Convention for the Pacific Settlement of
International Dispute] holds that �each Signatory Power shall select
four persons...of known competency in questions of international law, of the
highest moral reputation, and disposed to accept the duties of
Arbitrators.�
The fact that the
Commission members were constituted by a treaty or agreement signed by a
collaborator participant in the scheme, who is know being demonized by
some Congress Members, does not shield them from criminal prosecution for
they have been involved in a dubious underhanded process to harm the
national interest of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Penal Code has provisions
that would cover such criminality of individuals against the territorial
and economic well being of
Ethiopia
. My suggestion is not outrageous at all, but in line with numerous
examples of the practices of States including that of the Government of
United States. The United States Government in the past had instituted
legal charges against individuals who have acted in their respective
countries against the national interest of the
United States
. The case of Noriega is one example. Furthermore, the United States
Government has even done more outrageous things by even going to war and
capturing leaders of foreign countries and through local kangaroo courts
have them tried and convicted and hanged�the case of Saddam Hussein and
his top officials is a case in point.
I support the Ethiopian
Government as far as it fights against destructive Bills, such as the
draft Bill �Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of
2010,� S.
3757. When the territorial integrity and the Sovereignty of Ethiopia is at
stake, it is not the time to settle old scores among each other or with
the current Ethiopian Government or with that of the officials of Mengistu
Hailemariam�s bloody government. I know Meles Zenawi has
hurt our national integrity and Sovereignty and is responsible for our
current status as a landlocked country surrounded and being strangled by
our enemies. However, we must distinguish between our immediate danger and
the dictatorial and corrupt Government of Meles Zenawi that we can deal
with in our own time with our own devices. It is a choice between a viable
Ethiopia
or the one on the block for destruction. The Feingolds, the Leahys, and
the Paynes of the world are using our vulnerability and discord with Meles
Zenawi, to carry out their own agenda that has the least regard to the
long term interests of the people of
Ethiopia
. These are wolves in sheepskins. Do not fall for their stupid schemes.
With all facts and
rational deductive reasoning stated above in mind, my sincere
recommendation to all those who dearly love
Ethiopia
are the following:
- Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, please, void and nullify
the Algiers Agreement of 2000, and everything that had been done by
the corrupt Ethiopia-Eritrea
Border Commission. Such bold and decisive act will stop the
speculation and the manipulation to force the hands of
Ethiopia
to concede its legitimate interest once and for all. Nothing of
consequence would happen to you or your government because of such
nationalism, rather you would have mended the greatest mistake you
have committed and ender you back with the people of
Ethiopia
who are starving for a bold and patriotic leadership.
- On this particular issue of the implementation of the
decision of the corrupted Ethiopia-Eritrea
Border Commission, all must oppose the decision, and mobilize
all of our effort to demonstrate our resolve to preserve the
Sovereignty and Territorial integrity of
Ethiopia
.
- I urge the Ethiopian Government to start criminal
charges against the Members of the Ethiopia-Eritrea
Border Commission, in particular against Elihu Lauterpacht. At
the very least, the Ministry of Justice ought to file compliant
against Elihu Lauterpacht and the other Members of the Commission with
Bar memberships, for professional misconduct with the appropriate Bar.
- I appeal to all Ethiopians to condemn the draft Bill
�Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of 2010,� S.
3757, and write to the Senators and Representatives of your respective
States expressing your outrage against the activities of Senators
Feingold and Leahy.
- I appeal to all Ethiopians to condemn and
demonstrate against the continuation of the harassment and
interference in the internal affairs of
Ethiopia
and its Government by Senators, Representatives and all American
politicians from whatever persuasion.
- I appeal to all Ethiopians to
write to the Democratic Party of the
United States
protesting its continued adversity against the interest of
Ethiopia
.
Last words I would like to
leave with you is a form of revelation, and this may come as a surprise to
people here in the United States or elsewhere in the World, but not to
Ethiopians that Ethiopia will still be in existence long after all the
great powers of the World have liquefied.
"We
have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are
eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."
Lord Palmerston
Tecola W. Hagos
Washington
DC
September 5, 2010
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