Features
US Promised Iraqis Justice, Trump’s Pardons Took it Away!

LAWYER PAUL DICKINSON SAYS . .
by Selvam Canagaratna
“It’s perfectly obvious that somebody’s responsible and somebody’s innocent. Otherwise it [Justice] makes no sense at all.”
– Ugo Betti, Landscape (1936)
[Lawyer, Paul Dickinson represented the family of Ali Kinani and five other victims of the Blackwater contractors convicted of killing at least 14 innocent Iraqi citizens in the 2007 Nisoor Square massacre.]
President Trump’s pardon of four former Blackwater contractors has sparked outrage in Iraq and in the United States. Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted in the killing of 14 Iraqis in 2007, when contractors for the mercenary firm opened fire on civilians in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square. The four Blackwater guards were convicted in 2014 after years of painstaking work by investigators and prosecutors to address one of the most infamous chapters of the US occupation of Iraq.
Paul Dickinson, who was the lawyer for several victims of the Blackwater massacre, says Trump’s pardons are a fresh insult to Iraqis who lost loved ones and who were promised justice would be served. “Now, after the promises that we made to each one of these victims that we were going to hold people accountable for their criminal actions abroad, that has been taken away from them,” he says.
AMY
GOODMAN: Last week, President Trump pardoned the four former Blackwater mercenaries involved in the 2007 Nisoor Square massacre, where 17 Iraqi civilians died. The pardoned men include Nicholas Slatten, who had been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the massacre. The other three Blackwater contractors were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and given sentences of 12 to 15 years.
The pardons have sparked outrage in Iraq and here in the United States. The father of nine-year-old victim Ali Kinani told the Middle East Eye: “No one is above the law is what we learn in America, but now there’s someone above the law. I don’t know how this is allowed,” he said.
Blackwater was founded by Erik Prince, a close ally of President Trump. Prince’s sister, Betsy DeVos, serves as Education Secretary. Supporters of the Blackwater guards refer to the men as “the Biden Four.” In 2010, then-Vice President Joe Biden announced the Justice Department would appeal the dismissal of a criminal case against the Blackwater mercenaries involved in the Nisoor Square massacre. The men would later be tried and convicted.
Paul Dickinson served as the lawyer for the family of Ali Kinani and five other victims of the Blackwater contractors who were convicted of killing at least 14 innocent Iraqi citizens in the attack. Dickinson’s recent for The Intercept is headlined “I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. Trump Just Pardoned Those Convicted Killers.”
Paul Dickinson, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you respond to the pardon, and its significance?
PAUL
DICKINSON: I will admit it’s been quite a while since I’ve listened to that gripping interview with Mohammed. I was sitting in the room when he gave that story and explained what happened that day. And sitting here listening to it again through my headset, I’m reminded of the horror that he and others faced that day.
My response to the pardon is that these four men were tried and convicted by the US legal system, that there were difficulties with prosecution — as you mentioned, the indictment was dismissed on New Year’s Eve 2009. Joe Biden gave a press conference and said that the US government was going to pursue the prosecution. Each step of the way, Mohammed and others, including my other five clients, were promised by the US Justice Department that we were going to hold those men accountable. And that’s what we did. Nicholas Slatten was tried with the other three. The court of appeals made a decision that he should have been tried separately. He was tried separately.
The important thing to note from this is not that there was some extraordinary effort to try these men or to make an example of them, but, however, that they were given fair trials; that the US court system, the US justice system, worked for these men and for their victims to ensure justice was given fairly, that they received fair trials; and now, after the promises that we made to each one of these victims that we were going to hold people accountable for their criminal actions abroad, that that has been taken away from them. And I cannot imagine the feelings that Mohammed and the others have for feeling that justice has been taken from them by the US government, after it had been promised to them. We have gone back on our word to these victims, and that is sad and unfortunate.
AMY
GOODMAN: In fact, Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder, actually, not for the killing of Ali Kinani — is that right? — but the 19-year-old medical student who was driving his mom.
PAUL
DICKINSON: That’s my understanding, yes.
AMY
GOODMAN: And so, what at this point happens next? They’re just freed from prison?
PAUL
DICKINSON: The President’s pardon power is absolute. Yes, they are freed from prison. As I recently tweeted about, the four men are given pardons, and the contract that Blackwater had with the Department of State provided the contractors who were working in Iraq and elsewhere under the contract complete immunity from both criminal and civil liability in Iraq, and that the only place that these men could have been charged criminally or held civilly accountable, which is what my lawsuit was about, was in the United States.
But even those steps provided us very difficult legal hurdles to get over to get them in the United States, get jurisdiction over them. We sued them in North Carolina. Case was removed to federal court, then sent back to state court. It was on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals for a period of time before the case eventually resolved. The Justice Department faced similar difficulties in trying them in the United States. However, the courts of appeals determined that those cases were correct, and the federal court in North Carolina thought that our claim was correct, and state court in North Carolina.
There is no other place to try these men. There is no other place to hold them accountable. We held them accountable for the civil claims, but the criminal claims are now gone. There’s nothing that can be done. It’s unfortunate. As I said, we’ve gone back on our word against these people, and that word cannot be changed now.
Features
Babies made using three people’s DNA are born free of hereditary disease

Eight babies have been born in the UK using genetic material from three people to prevent devastating and often fatal conditions, doctors say.
The method, pioneered by UK scientists, combines the egg and sperm from a mum and dad with a second egg from a donor woman.
The technique has been legal here for a decade but we now have the first proof it is leading to children born free of incurable mitochondrial disease.
These conditions are normally passed from mother to child, starving the body of energy.
This can cause severe disability and some babies die within days of being born. Couples know they are at risk if previous children, family members or the mother has been affected.
Children born through the three-person technique inherit most of their DNA, their genetic blueprint, from their parents, but also get a tiny amount, about 0.1%, from the second woman. This is a change that is passed down the generations.
None of the families who have been through the process are speaking publicly to protect their privacy, but have issued anonymous statements through the Newcastle Fertility Centre where the procedures took place.
“After years of uncertainty this treatment gave us hope – and then it gave us our baby,” said the mother of a baby girl. “We look at them now, full of life and possibility, and we’re overwhelmed with gratitude.”
The mother of a baby boy added: “Thanks to this incredible advancement and the support we received, our little family is complete. “The emotional burden of mitochondrial disease has been lifted, and in its place is hope, joy, and deep gratitude.”
Mitochondria are tiny structures inside nearly every one of our cells. They are the reason we breathe as they use oxygen to convert food into the form of energy our bodies use as fuel.
Defective mitochondria can leave the body with insufficient energy to keep the heart beating as well as causing brain damage, seizures, blindness, muscle weakness and organ failure.
About one in 5,000 babies are born with mitochondrial disease. The team in Newcastle anticipate there is demand for 20 to 30 babies born through the three-person method each year.
Some parents have faced the agony of having multiple children die from these diseases.
Mitochondria are passed down only from mother to child. So this pioneering fertility technique uses both parents and a woman who donates her healthy mitochondria.
The science was developed more than a decade ago at Newcastle University and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a specialist service opened within the NHS in 2017.

There was a case of epilepsy, which cleared up by itself and one child has an abnormal heart rhythm which is being successfully treated.
These are not thought to be connected to defective mitochondria. It is not known whether this is part of the known risks of IVF, something specific to the three-person method or something that has been detected only because the health of all babies born through this technique is monitored intensely.
Another key question hanging over the approach has been whether defective mitochondria would be transferred into the healthy embryo and what the consequences could be.
The results show that in five cases the diseased mitochondria were undetectable. In the other three, between 5% and 20% of mitochondria were defective in blood and urine samples.
This is below the 80% level thought to cause disease. It will take further work to understand why this occurred and if it can be prevented.

Prof Mary Herbert, from Newcastle University and Monash University, said: “The findings give grounds for optimism. However, research to better understand the limitations of mitochondrial donation technologies, will be essential to further improve treatment outcomes.”
The breakthrough gives hope to the Kitto family.
Kat’s youngest daughter Poppy, 14, has the disease. Her eldest Lily, 16, may pass it onto her children.
Poppy is in a wheelchair, is non-verbal and is fed through a tube.
“It’s impacted a huge part of her life,” says Kat, “we have a lovely time as she is, but there are the moments where you realize how devastating mitochondrial disease is”.

Despite decades of work there is still no cure for mitochondrial disease, but the chance to prevent it being passed on gives hope to Lily.
“It’s the future generations like myself, or my children, or my cousins, who can have that outlook of a normal life,” she says.
The UK not only developed the science of three-person babies, but it also became the first country in the world to introduce laws to allow their creation after a vote in Parliament in 2015.
There was controversy as mitochondria have DNA of their own, which controls how they function.
It means the children have inherited DNA from their parents and around 0.1% from the donor woman.
Any girls born through this technique would pass this onto their own children, so it is a permanent alteration of human genetic inheritance.
This was a step too far for some when the technology was debated, raising fears it would open the doors to genetically-modified “designer” babies.
Prof Sir Doug Turnbull, from Newcastle University, told me: “I think this is the only place in the world this could have happened, there’s been first class science to get us to where we are, there been legislation to allow it to move into clinical treatment, the NHS to help support it and now we’ve got eight children that seem to free of mitochondrial disease, what a wonderful result.”
Liz Curtis, the founder of the Lily Foundation charity said: “After years of waiting, we now know that eight babies have been born using this technique, all showing no signs of mito.
“For many affected families, it’s the first real hope of breaking the cycle of this inherited condition.”
[BBC]
Features
Western proxy war in Ukraine could be approaching dangerous tipping point

Fast-breaking developments in US-Russia relations and US-Ukraine ties could very well be pointing to the wasting war in the Ukraine theatre currently approaching a dangerous tipping point. The US has reached the crucial decision to equip Ukraine with the necessary lethal arms to counter Russia’s ongoing missile and drone strikes on it and if implemented could mark a qualitatively new phase in the conflict between the West and Russia in Ukraine, which could have serious implications for regional and even world peace.
‘We want to make sure Ukraine can do what it wants to do, US President Donald Trump is quoted as saying following a recent meeting he had with NATO chief Mark Rutte in Washington, subsequent to indicating that the US will be sending ‘top of the line weapons’ to Ukraine through NATO countries. Such weaponry could include Patriot air defence systems which are generally seen as an effective answer in particular to Russia’s air strikes on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on record that he had thanked the US President for his ‘willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace.’
Going ahead, the West would need to bear in mind that the supplying of exceptionally lethal arms to the Ukraine through its mediation could be seen by the Putin regime as hostile acts directed at the Russian state. That is, the West would be considered as involving itself physically in the ongoing hostilities between Russia and the Ukraine, necessitating the West, and more specifically NATO countries, to brace for Russian military strikes on them. Needless to say, such an eventuality would bode ill for international stability and peace.
Accordingly the West would need to assess very finely the consequences of its decisions on the Ukraine front. While the US President’s recent statements on these questions could be seen by some as mere rhetoric Trump is also on record as having indicated that his patience is wearing thin with Putin over the central issue of bringing peace to the Ukraine.
Inasmuch as Trump needs to trod gingerly going ahead so must Putin. In the event of full scale hostilities breaking out between the East and West in the Eastern European theatre no camp would stand to gain; this ought to be plain to the main antagonists, since they are evenly matched in terms of military capability. Even if the conflict in the Ukraine stagnates at a proxy stage, the costs for both sides would be staggering in human and material terms. Russia would need to recollect Afghanistan and the US would need to take itself back to the numerous proxy wars it fought in the then Third World.
However, although there are great uncertainties and perils for the world in the event of the current proxy war in the Ukraine degenerating into a more frontal East-West military confrontation in Europe, President Trump could be considered as holding the ‘Trump card’ to force a negotiated end to the present crisis.
This ‘Trump card’ takes the form of the economic strife which may descend upon the world in the event of the Trump administration going fully ahead with its ‘reciprocal tariff’ based trade wars with the majority of countries.
The US under President Trump may not be the most popular major power but it continues to be critical to the world’s current economic health. However much unpalatable it may be, the truth is that the economic vibrancy and prosperity of the US are key to many a country’s material survival. This is on account of the multiple economic linkages between the US and the rest of the world. The weaker the economy the greater is its dependence on the US and its largesse. For example, Sri Lanka knows this only too well.
The Trump administration is on record that it would be imposing what are described as ‘secondary tariffs’ on those countries whose economic operations are even indirectly benefiting Russia and if implemented could bring about crippling economic hardships for quite a few countries.
Major economic powers, China and India, are fully aware of these consequences. This is the reason why they would prefer not to undermine current economic arrangements between them and the US and between the latter and the rest of the world.
The above positions should not be misunderstood to mean that the rest of the world should be in a subservient relationship with the US. There is no question of the US exercising some sort of suzerainty over the rest of the world. This is not the case but in international relations the primacy of economics over politics may need to be recognized; economic realism needs be a cornerstone of foreign policy.
It would be quite some time before the BRICS grouping reaches the commanding heights of the world economy. Right now, it would be self-defeating, given the US’ continued economic power, for the South in particular to gloss over the might of the West and depend lopsidedly on the BRICS powers for its entire economic sustenance and survival. Indeed, a Non-aligned foreign policy remains best for the South.
It does not follow from the above considerations that the West could continue to turn a blind eye to the dangers posed to it and the world from the Ukraine conflict. Immense caution and foresight would need to go into its moves to arm Ukraine with its more sophisticated and exceptionally lethal weaponry. A cornered enemy in the battlefield, suffering overwhelming losses, cannot be expected to be continually discreet. With its patience relentlessly wearing thin it could unleash its Weapons of Mass Destruction, thus driving the world to the brink of destruction.
Accordingly, it is hoped that better counsel would prevail over all concerned and that differences would be resolved at the negotiating table. May be harsh economic realities would come to dictate terms and propel the quarters concerned to give cool rationality rather than the avarice born of self-aggrandizement a chance in their dealings with each other.
Features
Shah Rukh Khan – secret to looking young

I’m sure the whole of Sri Lanka is eagerly looking forward to the arrival of Bollywood heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan, due in Colombo, next month, for the grand opening of the City of Dreams.
What makes Shah Rukh Khan standout is not only his acting prowess but also his looks.
At 59-plus, he looks absolutely great … or, let’s say, simply awesome.
Generally, people in their late fifties, or even in their mid-fifties, look frail, and some can’t even walk steadily.
So, what is Shah Rukh Khan’s secret to looking young, and, remember, he will be hitting 60 on 2nd November, 2025!
Yes, diet, is given top priority where Shah Rukh Khan is concerned.
While many of us need around four meals a day, Shah Rukh focuses on two main meals a day – lunch and dinner – and avoids snacking or elaborate dishes.
His meals often include sprouts, grilled chicken, broccoli, and sometimes dhal. And don’t we all love dhal!
While he enjoys sharing meals with others when he’s with family or travelling, even if it means indulging in richer dishes, like biryani or parathas, his core diet remains consistent, he says.
Wonder what would be his menu during his very short stay in Sri Lanka! Perhaps traditional Indian foods like tandoori chicken and mutton biriyani, roti, parathas, food cooked with ghee! He also likes the drink lassi, I’m told.
Perhaps, we should also ask him to check out some of our dishes, as well … a good rice and curry menu, with dhal!
It isn’t diet alone that has given Shah Rukh his young look but, he says, exercise, too, has played an important part, especially where his physique is concerned.

Young Shah Rukh Khan in the early ‘90s
Shah Rukh refers to his fitness journey during the pandemic, saying during the pandemic he decided to work hard on his body.
He focused on building a strong physique, and, by exercising consistently, he achieved a body he is proud of today.
Another factor responsible for his leaner, healthier body, and a sharper appearance, is that he has completely quit smoking
This major lifestyle change has also helped him maintain a leaner, healthier body, and a sharper appearance, he says.
Strangely, his sleep routine is totally different to what experts say. We are told that we need between seven and nine hours of sleep per night for optimal health.
Shah Rukh admits he has an unusual sleep schedule and this generally happens when he has a busy shooting schedule.
He usually goes to bed around 5.00 am and sleeps for about four–five hours. Even though it’s not ideal, he manages it around his busy shooting schedule.
In fact, Shah Rukh is a night person and usually loves working in the night. He also loves night shoots. He had said, “I usually head to bed around 5.00 am. On shooting days, I wake up by 9 or 10 in the morning. After coming back home late at night — sometimes around 2.00 am — I take a shower and get a workout in before I finally sleep.”
On the work front, he will be seen next in the movie ‘King’, due for a grand release in 2026.
Shah Rukh Khan continues to inspire millions with his commitment to fitness and I hope Sri Lankans will take a cue from this Bollywood heartthrob and maintain a leaner, healthier body.
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