Remarks on the Situation in Syria
Message: 7
From: U.S. Department of State <usstatebpa@subscriptions.fcg.gov>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:35:37 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Democracy, Human Rights, Refugees: Remarks on the Situation in Syria

Democracy, Human Rights, Refugees: Remarks on the Situation in Syria
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:13:59 -0500

Remarks on the Situation in Syria

Remarks

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 18, 2011

---

SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning. For months, the world has borne witness to the Asad regime’s contempt for its own people. In peaceful demonstrations across the nation, Syrians are demanding their universal human rights. The regime has answered their demands with empty promises and horrific violence, torturing opposition leaders, laying siege to cities, slaughtering thousands of unarmed civilians, including children.
The Asad government has now been condemned by countries in all parts of the world and can look only to Iran for support for its brutal and unjust crackdown.

This morning, President Obama called on Asad to step aside and announced the strongest set of sanctions to date targeting the Syrian Government. These sanctions include the energy sector to increase pressure on the regime. The transition to democracy in Syria has begun, and it’s time for Asad to get out of the way.

As President Obama said this morning, no outside power can or should impose on this transition. It is up to the Syrian people to choose their own leaders in a democratic system based on the rule of law and dedicated to protecting the rights of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion, sect, or gender.
We understand the strong desire of the Syrian people that no foreign country should intervene in their struggle, and we respect their wishes. At the same time, we will do our part to support their aspirations for a Syria that is democratic, just, and inclusive. And we will stand up for their universal rights and dignity by pressuring the regime and Asad personally to get out of the way of this transition.
All along, as we have worked to expand the circle of global condemnation, we have backed up our words with actions. As I’ve repeatedly said, it does take both words and actions to produce results. Since the unrest began, we have imposed strong financial sanctions on Asad and dozens of his cronies. We have sanctioned the Commercial Bank of Syria for supporting the regime’s illicit nuclear proliferation activities. And we have led multilateral efforts to isolate the regime, from keeping them off the Human Rights Council, to achieving a strong presidential statement of condemnation at the UN Security Council.
The steps that President Obama announced this morning will further tighten the circle of isolation around the regime. His executive order immediately freezes all assets of the Government of Syria that are subject to American jurisdiction and prohibits American citizens from engaging in any transactions with the Government of Syria or investing in that country. These actions strike at the heart of the regime by banning American imports of Syrian petroleum and petroleum products and prohibiting Americans from dealing in these products.
And as we increase pressure on the Asad regime to disrupt its ability to finance its campaign of violence, we will take steps to mitigate any unintended effects of the sanctions on the Syrian people. We will also continue to work with the international community, because if the Syrian people are to achieve their goals, other nations will have to provide support and take actions as well.
In just the past two weeks, many of Syria’s own neighbors and partners in the region have joined the chorus of condemnation. We expect that they and other members of the international community will amplify the steps we are taking both through their words and their actions.

We are heartened that, later today, the UN Security Council will meet again to discuss this ongoing threat to international peace and stability. We are also working to schedule a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council that will examine the regime’s widespread abuses. Earlier this week, I explained how the United States has been engaged in a relentless and systematic effort with the international community, pursuing a set of actions and statements that make crystal clear where we all stand, and generating broader and deeper pressure on the Asad regime.

The people of Syria deserve a government that respects their dignity, protects their rights, and lives up to their aspirations. Asad is standing in their way. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for him to step aside and leave this transition to the Syrians themselves, and that is what we will continue to work to achieve.
Thank you all very much.

PRN: 2011/1342

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Thư gửi Ngoại Trưởng Hoa Kỳ Hillary R. Clinton

The Vietnamese American Community of Northern California (VAC-NORCAL)

PO Box 391063

Mountain View, CA 94039

(408) 242-4056

Nguyenngoctien_6@yahoo.com

24 August 2011

The U.S. Department of State

Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton

2201 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary:

On behalf of the Vietnamese American community of Northern California, all Vietnamese people whose signatures are hereby attached in Annex A, all political prisoners being held in many prisons in Vietnam and all the Vietnamese people who do not have an opportunity to raise their voice to the world community, we would like to say many thanks to the Secretary for sparing your precious time reading this letter and the Petition we send to the President asking him to support the Vietnamese people for the democracy, freedom and human rights in Vietnam.

Dear Secretary,

Our country has been undergoing so many tragedies from inside to outside. Inside our country the lands and mountains in the northern border land were lost to the hands of the North after the Sino-Vietnamese war in 1979. In 2002, the Gulf of Tonkin was delimited unfairly, inappropriate to the UNCLOS international law of the sea, and without the consent of our people causing the loss of tens of thousands of sea mileage and damages to the Vietnamese people living conditions. To the East Sea, the Chinese navy attacked and seized the Paracels on 19 January 1974 and built up their navy and air support base in the Woodland Island. After that the Chinese navy moved further to the South and massacred more than 70 Vietnamese people on the reef of Garma of the Spratlys archipelago on 14 March 1988. Since 2005 the Chinese navy became the ruler in the East Sea, they themselves banned the Vietnamese fishermen to fish in the East Sea from 15 June to mid August every year; as a result, they killed, shot at the Vietnamese fishermen, beat them, tortured them and kidnapped them for ransom. Today, the situation is more critical because the Chinese navy comes close to our internal sea and requests their unreasonable and unlawful nine-lined sea border, their so called cow-tongued sea limit in the East Sea. Inside Indochina, China built dams on upper Mekong River in Xayaburi province of Laos in order to hold water from the upper stream of Mekong river causing loss of water to irrigate the paddy fields. In central highland of Vietnam the communist Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung allowed tens of thousands of unidentified laborers to reside to work for bauxite factories that contaminate the ecological system as the red silt can cause unpredictable dangers to more than twenty million Vietnamese living in the delta of the Mekong River. The number of the unidentified strangers residing inside Vietnam now may be about 1.3 million, and they can enter Vietnam freely by the trails along the corridor of the Indochinese countries.

We know that the Secretary is so busy with the important national issues as well as the global problems and the family that are weighing on your shoulders, but we want to describe the broken-heart pains of our country so that you understand that more than 80 million Vietnamese people desire the freedom, the democracy and the human rights for their self determining the fate of our country before it totally collapses and becomes a second Tibet in Asia. Certainly, nobody will expect that worst situation happen; however, if that becomes true, not only will our Vietnamese people feel pains, but also will the US regret as they did not predict the impending tragedy and did not fulfill the responsibility of a pioneer country who used to build the democracy for countries all over the world. The road to the democracy, the freedom and the human rights is the only policy that helps the Vietnamese people be independent from China, each Vietnamese individual - not the corruption ridden communist regime with the police security force to oppress the people and compromise with the strangers - will be a reliable ally to the US, a fore front, a never-sunk bridgehead to protect the US national benefits in the East Sea. It is also the best measure that the US can save money to protect their national benefits in the East Sea because the Vietnamese people has a very long history of brave struggles to defend their country from being assimilated by the North while the far-reaching influence of the US is being limited because of the shrunk defense budget.

By the way, we enclose our Petition to President Obama in which we petition him to support the democracy, freedom and human rights for the Vietnamese people. Thank you for your time reading our letter and consideration.

May God bless you and your family.

Sincerely,

Ngoc Tien Nguyen

Chairman of the Committee of the Representatives of VAC-NORCAL

Enclosure: 1. The Petition to the President calling for the US support for the democracy, freedom and human rights in for the Vietnamese people. 2. Annex A (The lists of the signatures.) 3. The Vietnamese communists are responsible for the massacre of more than 6,000 civilians in Hue in 1968.

Obama: Libya slipping from grasp of tyrant

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-libya-slipping-grasp-tyrant-024052914.html
VINEYARD HAVEN, Masschusetts (AP) — President Barack Obama said Sunday night following a day of dramatic developments in Libya that the situation there has reached a "tipping point" and that control of the capital was "slipping from the grasp of a tyrant." He called on Moammar Gadhafi to accept reality and relinquish power.

Obama issued the statement after conducting a conference call with members of his national security team, who had provided him with updates throughout the day.

"The surest way for the bloodshed to end is simple: Moammar Gadhafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end," Obama said in a statement issued while on vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. "Gadhafi needs to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya. He needs to relinquish power once and for all."

He had told reporters earlier Sunday that he would not make a statement "until we have full confirmation of what has happened."

Libyan rebels who raced into Tripoli on Sunday met little resistance as Gadhafi's defenders melted away and his 42-year authoritarian rule quickly crumbled. Euphoric fighters celebrated with residents of the capital in Green Square, the symbolic heart of the fading regime. Gadhafi's whereabouts were unknown, though state TV broadcast his bitter pleas for Libyans to defend his regime.

Opposition fighters captured his son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, who along with his father faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Another son was in contact with rebels about surrendering, the opposition said.

"Tonight, the momentum against the Gadhafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant," Obama said in the statement. "The Gadhafi regime is showing signs of collapsing. The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator."

The United States has joined other countries in recognizing the rebel forces, the Transitional National Council, as the legitimate government in Libya.

Obama called on the rebels "at this pivotal and historic time" to demonstrate the leadership needed to steer the country through a transition by respecting the rights of the Libyan people, avoiding civilian casualties, protecting state institutions and pursuing a transition to democracy that is "just and inclusive" for all of the country's people.

"A season of conflict must lead to one of peace," the president said.
Obama said the U.S. would remain in close contact with the TNC and work with its allies and partners around the world to protect the Libyan people and support a peaceful shift to democracy.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta were also kept updated throughout the day, officials said.

For the past two days, senior U.S. diplomats have had intensive discussions with the Libyan opposition, and with European and NATO allies, about the evolving situation. Ivo Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, and Philip Gordon, the top American diplomat for Europe, have been consulting with their counterparts.

Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, the top American diplomat for the Mideast, returned to Cairo on Sunday after two days in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital. On Saturday, while in Benghazi, Feltman warned that "the best-case scenario is for Gadhafi to step down now ... that's the best protection for civilians."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Feltman's trip underscored continuing U.S. efforts to encourage the rebels "to maintain broad outreach across all segments of Libyan society and to plan for post-Gadhafi Libya."

Some U.S. lawmakers rushed to claim a rebel victory in the 6-month-old civil war. Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, wrote on Twitter: "Great wishes of hope for people of Libya. You won the civil war; all the best on winning the peace! Bless Libya's patriots."

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., issued a joint statement calling the end of Gadhafi's rule "a victory for the Libyan people and for the broader cause of freedom in the Middle East and throughout the world."

But the GOP senators also criticized Obama's handling of the uprising. For one thing, Obama had limited U.S. military involvement to carrying out the early rounds of airstrikes before pulling back to a support role and refused to send in U.S. ground troops. McCain has said a stronger showing of U.S. air power could have dramatically shortened the conflict.

"Americans can be proud of the role our country has played ... but we regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower," McCain and Graham said.

Obama says Gaddafi rule collapsing, supports rebels

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/ZLwf3f5AztmK0orzlZSEAA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM1NDtxPTg1O3c9NjMw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/a7a3eadac4308512f60e6a706700912d.jpg
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-says-gaddafi-regime-collapsing-libya-024152996.html
OAK BLUFFS, Massachusetts (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday Muammar Gaddafi's rule was showing signs of collapse and called on the Libyan leader to relinquish power to avoid further casualties.
"The surest way for the bloodshed to end is simple: Muammar Gaddafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end," Obama said in a statement. "Gaddafi needs to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya. He needs to relinquish power once and for all."
The United States has played a supporting role in the NATO campaign that started in March to protect rebels, protesters
and civilians from attacks by Gaddafi's forces, providing technical support and intelligence to help air strikes.
Obama has said the United States got involved to shield the Libyan people from humanitarian crisis, and pledged in his Sunday evening statement to stay involved after Gaddafi goes.
He called for the Transitional National Council rebels in Libya to take control upon Gaddafi's exit and do everything possible to avoid further casualties, preserve the remaining government institutions and commit to pursuing real democracy after decades of rule by the often erratic Libyan strongman.
"At this pivotal and historic time, the TNC should continue to demonstrate the leadership that is necessary to steer the country through a transition by respecting the rights of the people of Libya," Obama said in the statement issued during his annual holiday in Martha's Vineyard, an island near Boston.

"The United States will continue to stay in close coordination with the TNC. We will continue to insist that the basic rights of the Libyan people are respected. And we will continue to work with our allies and partners in the international community to protect the people of Libya, and to support a peaceful transition to democracy," he said.

POST-GADDAFI PLANNING

Earlier on Sunday, on his way into a seaside restaurant in the well-heeled town of Oak Bluffs, Obama told reporters he was waiting for a full picture of the upheaval in Libya to emerge before commenting on conditions there.

His written statement came shortly after TNC rebel forces streamed through the Libyan capital of Tripoli, waving flags and firing into the air.

The rebels said the city was under their control except Gaddafi's Bab Al-Aziziyah stronghold, according to al-Jazeera Television. Two of Gaddafi's sons were captured.

Western powers have been intensifying planning for post-Gaddafi Libya in recent days in response to a rapid succession of rebel victories around Tripoli, according to officials involved in the talks.
The NATO alliance on Friday authorized formal planning for post-Gaddafi Libya and TNC members were due to meet officials from the United States, Britain, Jordan and United Arab Emirates to discuss "day-after" planning in Dubai this week.
The White House believes that unless transition plans are firmed up quickly, post-Gaddafi Libya may be chaotic and it may be impossible to fulfill the West's promise to protect Libya's people from humanitarian crisis.
Some U.S. and European officials fear Libya's opposition movement is not fully ready to govern. Their hope is that enough of Gaddafi's institutions will remain intact to enable the formation of a transitional government that can maintain a measure of civil order.
On Sunday, the U.S. State Department repeated a call for Gaddafi to step aside.

"We continue efforts to encourage the TNC to maintain broad outreach across all segments of Libyan society and to plan for post-Gaddafi Libya," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. "Gaddafi's days are numbered. If Gaddafi cared about the welfare of the

Kính gửi Ngoại Trưởng Hillary R. Clinton

 “Chúng tôi hiểu nổi khát vọng mạnh mẽ của dân tộc Syria rằng không một quốc gia bên ngoài nào nên can thiệp vào cuộc đấu tranh của họ, và chúng tôi tôn trọng những ước vọng đó,” bà Clinton nói tại Bộ Ngoại Giao. “Cùng lúc đó, chúng tôi sẽ làm việc của chúng tôi yễm trợ cho những động lực (cảm hứng) này giúp một Syria có dân chủ, công lý và trọn vẹn, và chúng tôi sẽ đứng lên vì những quyền phổ quát và phẩm giá của họ bằng cách áp lực lên chế độ và chính cá nhân Assad .”

"We understand the strong desire of the Syrian people that no foreign country should intervene in their struggle, and we respect their wishes," Clinton said at the State Department. "At the same time, we will do our part to support their aspirations for a Syria that is democratic, just and inclusive, and we will stand up for their universal rights and dignity by pressuring the regime and Assad personally."
http://news.yahoo.com/us-allies-declare-syrias-assad-must-leave-203307751.html

Kính gửi Ngoại Trưởng Hillary R. Clinton:

Chúng tôi xin thay mặt cộng đồng Việt Nam Bắc California, tất cả người Việt Nam có tên trong bản danh sách đính kèm, tất cả những tù nhân chính trị tại Việt Nam và tất cả người dân Việt Nam không có cơ hội lên tiếng xin gửi lời cám ơn Ngoại Trưởng dành thì giờ quý báu đọc thư này và Thỉnh Nguyện Thư gửi Tổng Thống Obama xin TT yễm trợ cho dân chủ, tự do và nhân quyền cho Việt Nam.

Kính thưa Ngoại Trưởng,

Ðất nước chúng tôi hiện nay đang trãi qua không biết bao nhiêu thảm trạng từ ngoài đến trong. Bên ngoài thì đất đai vùng biên giới phía Bắc đã mất dần mòn vào tay Trung cộng sau chiến tranh Việt-Trung 1979, Vịnh Bắc Bộ bị chia cắt bất công không phù hợp với Luật quốc tế về hàng hải năm 2002 làm thiệt thòi cuộc sống ngư dân, quần đảo Hoàng Sa bị Trung cộng chiếm đóng xây dựng căn cứ hải quân kể từ 19/01/1974, Trung cộng sau đó tiến xa hơn về Nam biển Ðông và tàn sát hơn 70 người Việt tại bãi đá Gạc Ma ngày 14/3/1988. Kể từ năm 2005, hải quân Trung cộng thực sự làm chủ biển Ðông, tự ý ra lệnh cấm ngư dân Việt không được quyền đánh bắt cá hàng năm từ 15/06 đến cuối tháng 8 và từ đó họ đã đánh đập bắn giết ngư dân Việt, bắn phá, đập nát dụng cụ đồ nghề đi biển, bắt giam trên hải đảo xa xôi đòi tiền chuộc. Giờ đây tình trạng biển Ðông còn trầm trọng hơn thế vì hải quân Trung cộng đã lấn sát nội hải Việt Nam tự đặt ranh giới biển mà họ tự vẽ là đường lưỡi bò của họ trên biển Ðông. Bên trong nội địa Ðông Dương  thì Trung cộng xây đập nước tại tỉnh Xayaburi thuộc Lào nhằm ngăn chận nước từ nguồn sông Mé Kong gây khó khăn cho nông dân Việt Nam thiếu nước canh tác. Tại Tây Nguyên Việt Nam Thủ tướng cộng sản Việt Nam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng đã cho phép hàng vạn công nhân Trung cộng đến sinh sống và khai thác bô xít tại đây làm ô nhiễm môi trường và hiểm hoạ bùn đỏ gây nguy hại không lường đối với sự sống còn của dân tộc chúng tôi. Con số lao động Trung cộng không ai rõ lý lịch hiện nay tại Việt Nam lên đến khoảng 1.3 triệu người đi vào Việt Nam một cách tự do qua đường biên giới giữa ba nước Ðông Dương. Ðiều này cho thấy mối hiểm họa đau thương của dân tộc tôi đang thực sự mất tất cả đất đai và biển đảo và có cả một đạo quân hơn triệu người lạ mặt nằm tiềm ẩn trong nước.

Chúng tôi biết rằng NT rất bận rộn với công việc quan trọng cho đất nước Hoa Kỳ và cả những lo nghĩ về các mối lo chung trên thế giới đè nặng trên đôi vai, với gia đình như thiên chức làm người mẹ, nhưng chúng tôi muốn hình dung những đau thương đổ vỡ của dân tộc tôi để NT hiểu rằng dân tộc chúng rất khao khát tự do, đam mê nền dân chủ và nhân quyền để dân tộc chúng tôi có thể đứng lên một cách độc lập tự quyết định số phận của dân tộc chúng tôi trước thảm họa của một đổ vỡ gần kề và trở thành nô lệ cho một ngoại bang hùng mạnh và gian ác. Chúng tôi muốn nói với NT thay thế những tiếng kêu gào từ những người tay không vô tội bị những kẻ cầm quyền đàn áp, đánh đập, bắn giết, tống giam chỉ vì lên tiếng đòi hỏi tự do, dân chủ, nhân quyền trong ôn hoà. Chúng tôi muốn thỉnh nguyện NT hãy yễm trợ cho một nền dân chủ cho Việt Nam, giúp mang lại nhân quyền và sự tự do cho hơn 80 triệu người Việt chúng tôi trước khi Việt Nam trở thành một Tây Tạng thứ hai. Nếu điều tệ hại này xãy ra chẳng những dân tộc tôi đau khổ mà chính Hoa Kỳ sẽ rất hối tiếc vì đã không sớm nhìn thấy bi kịch đó và không giữ trọn trách nhiệm một quốc gia tiên phong trong quá trình xây dựng những nền dân chủ trên thế giới.

Nhân đây, chúng tôi xin kính gửi đến NT để tường bản Thỉnh Nguyện Thư mà chúng tôi đã gửi đến Tổng Thống Obama xin ông yễm trợ cho nền dân chủ, tự do và nhân quyền cho Việt Nam.

Kính chào NT và xin Ơn Trên luôn ban phúc lành đến NT và gia đình.

Ký tên,

US, allies declare that Syria's Assad must leave

http://news.yahoo.com/us-allies-declare-syrias-assad-must-leave-203307751.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — Executing a global squeeze play, the United States and its European allies on Thursday demanded an end to four decades of brutal family dictatorship in Syria and underscored the tough talk with new sanctions on President Bashar Assad's government.

The unified stance isolates Assad further as he presses a military campaign against major demonstrations.

But the diplomacy left many questions unanswered, including how the demand for Assad's ouster can be backed up in the absence of any appetite for military intervention, and who inside the Syrian government or among the country's fragmented opposition might take his place.

The messages from Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels coincided with a U.N. report recommending that Syria be referred to the International Criminal Court for investigation of possible crimes against humanity, including summary executions, torturing prisoners and targeting children in the crackdown on demonstrations.
Much of Syria was quiet Thursday, although activists reported intense shooting around noon in the flashpoint city of Latakia.

Rights groups say Assad's forces have killed nearly 2,000 people since mid-March. The military assault on civilians has escalated since Ramadan began, with security forces killing hundreds and detaining thousands.

Activists said security forces killed 18 people across the country on Wednesday, the same day Assad assured U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that military and police operations had stopped.

In Thursday's coordinated statements, President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Canada and the European Union called for Assad to resign, saying his repression of demonstrations inspired by this spring's Arab uprisings made him unfit to lead. The new effort signals the end of the world's thin patience for Assad, once viewed as a Western-looking pragmatist who might expand freedoms at home and help achieve an Arab peace deal with Israel.
The resignation calls were the first explicit demands from the U.S. and its allies for Assad to step down, although condemnation of his actions had been growing for weeks.
Syria presented a different case than other Muslim nations swept by unrest this year. The United States used leverage from its billions of dollars in military aid to gradually ratchet up pressure on Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to step down, and called early on for the ouster of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
But Washington has very little direct influence on Syria, long a pariah state accused of sponsoring terrorism. Syria does have wider trade and other ties with Europe and the Arab world, which complicated the U.S. position, and with neighbor Iran. Iran remains one of the Assad regime's few allies, although those bonds are not deep.
In a statement released by the White House, Obama said Assad had lost all credibility as a leader and had to go.
"His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing and slaughtering his own people," Obama said. "We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside."
British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a joint statement saying that Assad should "leave power in the greater interests of Syria and the unity of his people." European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also joined the chorus of condemnation.
In Geneva, a high-level U.N. human rights team said that Syria's crackdown "may amount to crimes against humanity" and should be referred to the International Criminal Court. The U.N. investigators say they had found "a pattern of human rights violations that constitutes widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population."
U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said Thursday she had asked the Security Council to refer Syria to the court, and the U.S. and Europeans said they would push for sanctions at the U.N.
Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, accused the U.S. of waging a "humanitarian and diplomatic war" against his country in order to instigate further violence by sending "the wrong message to the terrorist armed groups that they are under American and Western protection."
Obama said Assad was wrong to think he could silence the voices of his people with repressive tactics similar to the ones his father, Hafez Assad, used to crush opponents in the 1980s. Obama signed an executive order that gives his administration authority to impose sweeping new sanctions on Syria intended to further isolate Assad.
The order immediately bans the import into the United States of any Syrian petroleum or petroleum products. Syria is not a huge source of oil for the U.S., but if European allies join the effort, it could significantly affect one of the government's top sources of revenue. Syrian crude oil exports go mostly to European countries such as Germany, Italy and France, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.
Obama's order also denies Syria access to the U.S. financial system, freezing all Syrian government assets that are subject to American jurisdiction. It prohibits any U.S. citizen from engaging in transactions with Syria, investing in the country or exporting services there.
The U.S. had already hit more than 30 Syrian officials, including Assad himself and members of his inner circle, and firms with sanctions. It has also lobbied other nations to follow suit, an acknowledgment both of limited U.S. leverage and the value, as Clinton said this week, of giving Assad nowhere to run.
The administration was careful to try not to appear highhanded or meddlesome in a region where suspicion of U.S. motives is rampant. Some of the Syrian protesters demanding an end to Assad's rule also reject the idea of a new alliance with the American government. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama stressed that no one would impose transition in Syria.
"We understand the strong desire of the Syrian people that no foreign country should intervene in their struggle, and we respect their wishes," Clinton said at the State Department. "At the same time, we will do our part to support their aspirations for a Syria that is democratic, just and inclusive, and we will stand up for their universal rights and dignity by pressuring the regime and Assad personally."

The White House had planned to make the announcement last week but postponed it largely at the request of Syria's neighbor Turkey, which asked for more time to try to persuade Assad, and because Clinton and other officials argued it was important to build a global coalition to demand his departure.

U.S. intelligence analysts believe one possible outcome of a post-Assad era is a Lebanese style government in which Syrian political parties form along sectarian lines, with some pro-Iran, some Sunni Muslim, some Christian. One U.S. official said a positive sign is that the protesters across ethnic and religious lines appear to have maintained a cohesive, unified front. That shared experience, coupled with unseating Assad, could forge ties between disparate groups.

Another possibility is that Assad gets pushed out by members of the existing government, who use his ouster to win back the people.

Until Thursday, the administration had said Assad had lost his legitimacy and that Syria would be better off without him. But it had stopped short of demanding his departure.

In addition to the statements from Europe and Canada, Jordan's foreign minister said Thursday that his country is "angered" and "extremely worried" by the killings of civilians in Syria, and Switzerland recalled its ambassador. A day earlier, Tunisia recalled its ambassador from Syria, following the lead of several other Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, which the U.S. has been lobbying to show displeasure with Assad.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday compared Assad to Libya's Moammar Gadhafi for refusing to heed pressure to change. Turkey has joined calls for Gadhafi to leave power, and Erdogan said he had personally spoken to Assad and sent his foreign minister to Damascus, but "despite all of this, they are continuing to strike civilians."

___

AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller, AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier and Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

The United States of America

The White House

Concerning to the US Support

Of Building the Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights

For the Vietnamese People, and

For the US National Benefits in the East Sea

THE VIETNAMESE AMERICAN COMMUNITY

of

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

(VAC-NORCAL)

A Petition to the US President Barack Obama

to request the Vietnamese rulers to release

all political prisoners in Vietnam

August 24, 2011

The Vietnamese American Community of Northern California (VAC-NORCAL)

P.O. Box 391063

Mountain View, CA 94039

(408) 242-4056

nguyenngoctien_6@yahoo.com

August 24, 2011

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Barack Obama:

On behalf of the Vietnamese American Community of Northern California (VAC-NORCAL,) all Vietnamese people whose signatures are included in the Annex A, all the political prisoners in Vietnam who are being held in prisons set up by the Vietnamese communists to torture them from souls to bodies, and all the Vietnamese who are being unjustly oppressed because they have courageously raised their voice for justice and human rights for themselves and their brethren, we would like to convey our deepest thank for your precious time reading our Petition from those Vietnamese people that most of them are US citizens.

First we would like to simply go over the wrong doings and crimes that the Vietnamese communists have done to the international community and to the people in our country:

1.      The Vietnamese communists ignored, disrespected the international law, violated the Geneva Treaty 1954 they signed, crossed the 17^th parallel to attack the Republic of Vietnam.

2.      In the 1968 Tet Offensive the Vietnamese communists were the genocide and war criminals when they killed savagely more than 6,000 people in Hue by breaking their heads with hammers and iron bars and then buried them live when they knew they lost the battle to the US forces and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam and were to retreat to the North.

3.      The Vietnamese communists disrespected the international law, violated the Paris Pact 1973 they just signed in fresh ink to attack and occupy illegally the Republic of Vietnam in 1975.

4.      In 1975, they concentrated the RVN officers and the elected representatives in many re-educational camps which were like the concentration camps in the USSR to torment and kill them day by day. The Vietnamese communists expatriated the prisoners to the wild and isolated places in mountainous regions. The number of the prisoners killed by diseases, hunger, and the revenge from the Vietnamese communists is uncountable.

5.      After illegally occupying the Republic of Vietnam, the Vietnamese communists set up a very strict, wicked and dictatorial government to rule the people by hatred and discrimination to take revenge of the people in the South; as a result, millions of people risked their lives leaving the country for freedom by boats or any means they could find out. Consequently, hundreds of thousand people died in the forests, at high sea, and sorrowfully, uncountable Vietnamese women were raped or sold as sex slavery when they were captured by the pirates.

6.      More than 36 years have passed by, but today the Vietnamese communists still keep using the terrorist policy towards the political dissidents or anyone who raised their voice in peace for freedom, democracy and human rights for Vietnam. All of them were thrown into jails without trials or by the ready-made sentences and were not allowed to defend even many of the international community or the US State Department raised concern. Typically, to compare with the French Bastille before the revolution year 1789, the Z30A prison of Xuân Lộc district Ðồng Nai province in Vietnam is the most notorious one that as people disclosed the number of the graves is more than the number of the survived prisoners, i.e. the political prisoners here might be held to death or they died before they were released or at least they became so ill to death or disability.

For all of the above reasons we petition the President to pay particular concern to the Hanoi rulers who are following an anti-democracy, without human rights policy and thus to oppress, pursue to kidnap the innocent, or arrest the political dissidents in Vietnam. We know that for the human purpose and for the protection of the important sea navigation in the East Sea as well as the US strategic and economic benefits that the American people come to Vietnam. However, never were the Vietnamese communist rulers elected by the Vietnamese people via democracy and justice votes to be people’s legal representatives; therefore, while the US compromise with the Communist government in order to protect the US national benefits but forget the true power of the democracy of more than 80 million Vietnamese people in our country who are living in poor conditions and under the iron-clad and dictatorial rule of the Communist government is what we suggest the President to review the US policy in Vietnam. Are the Vietnamese communist rulers honored to be trusted or be honest friends to the American people? The very more than 80 million Vietnamese are the true and the most powerful source of support for the US national benefits in the East Sea as well as the reliable human source to improve the US economy while all of them are looking forward to the US help to improve their livings along with the true democracy and freedom and human rights. They and the political prisoners who are tortured and dying in the Communist prisons are the real US reliable allies. If the US brought to Vietnam the strong wind of the democracy, freedom and human rights then the US national benefits are securely protected and that the US will not necessarily show up their most modern air carriers in the East Sea. The show up of the most modern US air carriers in such a narrow East Sea actually displays the US weakness more than the US strength. It displays the thin and weak connection between the US and the Vietnamese people who now really want their true prestige and power to protect their land and sea like their ancestors once had in centuries ago. While the Vietnamese rulers are corrupted, they thrived themselves and lived in richness and luxury they did not protect their land and sea, they did not thrive the country and improve the people’s living conditions; therefore, they cannot protect the US national benefits and sea routes effectively.

Flashing back the US vision after winning the WWII, the US government came to Japan to support this country to recover from the ruins after the war and help build up the democracy right on this damaged country to avoid the pressure of the USSR; as a result, the Japanese people will not forget their gratitude the American people who restored their country but also they become one of the US credible allies so far. Not long ago, the President has requested the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to make a swift transfer of the power to the bare-handed protesters who gathered in the Tahrir Square just to voice their desire of a new Egypt of democracy and freedom. The US also accepted the just cause of the Libyan rebels through using the US air force to deter the Gadhafi’s advance and also calling NATO to help those poor rebels from being massacred by the Gadhafi’s force while those rebels are struggling for a true democracy against the unreasonable ruling of the four-decaded Libyan dictator Gadhafi. Those futuristic views clearly define the power of the democracy foundation “By the People for the People” that for many centuries the American people has been keeping on the right track for both internal and foreign affairs resolutions.

Today, we believe that the President will strongly raise your voice for a “CHANGE” as a necessary revolution for our Vietnamese people in Vietnam like you have adopted the symbol CHANGE for the American society in the 2008 election race, and you saw the American people applauded the CHANGE. Our Vietnamese people will applaud the “CHANGE” from your heart-felt support. In November 2011 when the President comes to the East Asia and may be you will visit our painful and corruption-ridden country, we believe that the President will strongly voice and urge the Vietnamese people to destine and bind peacefully their lives to the democracy, freedom and human rights ahead. We also petition the President to support the democracy for Vietnam by strongly requesting:

1.      The Communist rulers to release immediately all religious, political prisoners, and the poor Vietnamese citizens who are being held in outnumbered prisons all over Vietnam for having raised their peaceful voices against the un-justice or written articles on blogs expressing their disagreements towards the corrupted rulers. Consequently, the US should lay out necessary measures to keep track and examine the levels of the violation of the human rights and the un-human tortures to the prisoners in the communist prisons; especially, the notorious prison Z30A at Xuân Lộc of  Ðồng Nai province.

2.      The Communist rulers to get rid of using armed secret or public police, in uniform or camouflaged in civil clothes along with weaponry and vehicles to oppress, beat, arrest, or murder the peaceful protesters, religious believers, and all highlanders in order to cover their mouths while these people voice the un-justice and the corruption in the society and for the democracy in Vietnam.

Finally, we deeply thank the President for your precious time reading our Petition, we wish the President a very successful trip to the East Asia and bring back successes about economy, politics and national defense for the United States of America. We also wish the President a bright future of the political career along with the best harvest in the coming years.

May God bless the President and your family.

Sincerely,

Ngoc Tiên Nguyen

Chairman of the Committee of the Representatives of VAC-NORCAL

Obama calls on Syria’s Assad to “step aside”

Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (AFP …

President Barack Obama called on Syria's Bashar al-Assad to leave power Thursday, as the United States announced new sanctions on the Syrian regime, which is accused of killing some 2,000 people in six months of anti-government unrest.

"The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way," Obama said in a statement released by the White House Thursday morning. "His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people."

"For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside," Obama's statement continued.

"The transition to democracy in Syria has begun, and it's time for Assad to get out of the way," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed in an on-camera statement at the State Department shortly after the White House announcement, which you can see in the video below.

The U.S. call for Assad's exit--which was immediately followed by a chorus of similar declarations from the leaders of Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the European Union foreign policy chief--stressed that the United States does not plan for any sort of international military intervention in Syria--on the order of the NATO-led action to aid rebel forces seeking to oust Libya's Muammar Gadhafi.

"The United States cannot and will not impose this transition upon Syria," Obama said. "It is up to the Syrian people to choose their own leaders, and we have heard their strong desire that there not be foreign intervention in their movement." 

The call for Assad to step down came as a United Nations human rights team announced in Geneva Thursday that it had determined the Syrian regime may have committed war crimes in its brutal crackdown on anti-government unrest. The UN panel said it may recommend the referral of Syria to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. The Security Council is also scheduled to discuss Syria Thursday afternoon.

The Obama administration also announced a new, fifth round of sanctions on Syria Thursday. The new sanctions prohibit U.S. persons from having any financial dealings with the Syrian regime and in particular with Syria's petroleum industry, and called on other countries to follow the U.S. action. The European Union receives some 90 percent of Syria's petroleum exports, analysts estimate, and the United States has been pressing European allies to curtail their Syrian energy imports to further financially choke off and pressure the Damascus regime.

Today's sanctions are "in part symbolic and in part significant," Douglas Jacobson, an attorney who specializes in international trade law, told the Envoy, noting that the U.S. "imports more petroleum products from Trinidad & Tobago than it does from Syria." Symbolically, however, Jacobson added, the further U.S. sanctions put Syria in the unwelcome category of such shunned regimes as those of Iran, Cuba and Sudan.

U.S. officials said that while they now assess that Assad is on the way out, they cautioned that his toppling may neither be swift nor easy.

"We can't predict how long this will take, and it's not likely to be easy," one senior U.S. diplomat told journalists in a call organized by the White House Thursday to explain the escalation of coordinated international actions on Syria. "But we are certain Assad is on the way out, and we are certain his isolation will increase."

"Syria is in effect emerging from forty years of an induced coma," the senior official continued, referring to the four decade reign of Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad before him. "People are not afraid any more, and that is when regimes start to crumble."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/obama-calls-syria-assad-step-aside-141257617.html

            SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2011 AT 1:30 PM

            Unify Center: 765 Story Road, San Jose, CA 95122

                                           Vào Cửa Tự Do

Kính thưa quý đồng hương:

Đã hơn 36 năm, người Việt Nam chúng ta quyết định chọn miền đất lành Hoa Kỳ làm quê hương  thứ hai. Chúng ta đã phải hy sinh và mất mát tất cả để làm lại từ đầu cũng vì hai chữ Tự Do.

Đất nước Hoa Kỳ đã mở rộng vòng tay để chào đón mỗi một người chúng ta: Quân Dân Cán Chính, kẻ đến trước, người tới sau, kẻ vượt biên, người thoát tù, v.v.., lần lượt chúng ta tái lập lại cuộc sống mới trên đất lạ. Và rồi trước lạ sau quen, ngày nào ngỡ ngàng chân ướt chân ráo, thế mà đã 36 năm, đã hơn một thế hệ trôi qua, và đã có thế hệ trẻ nối tiếp một cách vững mạnh.

Quê hương là đâu? Phải chăng chính là nơi mà chúng ta có gia đình, có người thân yêu, có người quen, anh em bạn bè, có cộng đồng, có mọi người cùng chia vui xẻ buồn. Cũng chính tại quê hương thứ 2 Hoa Kỳ nầy, mà chúng ta đã tạo lập được một cuộc sống ấm no thịnh vượng, với nhiều kẻ thành đạt, lắm người thành danh, nhất là thế hệ trẻ tiếp tục vương mạnh lên cao với bao nhiêu sức sống tràn đầy.
Xin click vào để xem tiếp



Thỉnh Nguyện Thư gửi Chính phủ Hoa Kỳ

The Vietnamese American Community of Northern California (VAC-NORCAL)

P.O. Box 391063

Mountain View, CA 94039

(408) 242-4056

Nguyenngoctien_6@yahoo.com

 August 14, 2011

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Barack Obama:

Kính thưa Tổng Thống Hoa Kỳ Barack Obama:

Chúng tôi xin thay mặt Cộng Ðồng Việt Nam Bắc California, tất cả những người Việt Nam ký tên trong danh sách đính kèm, chúng tôi cũng xin thay mặt tất cả các tù nhân chính trị tại Việt Nam hiện đang bị cộng sản Việt Nam giam cầm trong những trại tù do chúng dựng nên nhằm tra tấn họ từ thể xác đến tinh thần, và tất cả người Việt Nam khác hiện đang bị cộng sản Việt Nam đàn áp bất công tại Việt Nam chỉ vì họ đã can đảm nói lên tiếng nói bênh vực cho công bằng và nhân quyền cho chính bản thân họ và đồng bào họ xin gửi đến Tổng Thống lời cám ơn chân thành nhất vì đã dành thì giờ quý báu đọc Thỉnh Nguyện Thư này của người Việt Nam chúng tôi mà đa số ngày hôm nay là những công dân Hoa Kỳ.

Trước nhất chúng tôi muốn trình bày sơ lược những việc làm sai trái và những tội ác của đảng cộng sản Việt Nam đã làm đối với quốc tế và đối người dân trên chính quê hương của chúng tôi:

1. Cộng sản Việt Nam đã bất chấp, coi thường luật pháp quốc tế, đã vi phạm Hiệp định Gèneva 1954 mà họ đã ký kết, vượt vĩ tuyến 17, lằn ranh tạm thời phân chia hai miền Nam Bắc Việt Nam, tiến công nước Việt Nam Cộng Hoà.
2. Cộng sản Việt Nam đã phạm tội diệt chủng trong đợt tổng công kích Tết Mậu Thân 1968, khi trên đường rút quân về Bắc chúng đã tàn sát dã man bằng cách dùng búa và gậy đập bể đầu và chôn sống hơn 6, 000 thường dân Việt Nam vô tội tại Huế.
3. Cộng sản Việt Nam bất chấp luật pháp quốc tế, vi phạm Hiệp định đình chiến Paris 1973 mà chúng đã ký kết, để tấn công chiếm đóng bất hợp pháp Việt Nam Cộng Hoà năm 1975.
4. Năm 1975 cộng sản Việt Nam đã tập trung tù hàng binh và các viên chức VNCH vào các trại gọi là “tập trung cải tạo” để hành hạ và giết chết dần mòn những người này, số người chết trong các trại tù “tập trung cải tạo” rải rác khắp nơi trên Việt Nam không thể biết hết.
5. Sau khi chiếm đóng bất hợp pháp Việt Nam Cộng Hoà, cộng sản Việt Nam thiết lập một chế độ cai trị hà khắc, độc ác và phân biệt đối xử để trả thù người dân miền Nam, khiến hàng triệu người Việt phải bỏ nước liều mạng ra đi, để rồi có hàng trăm ngàn người chết trên biển, trong rừng sâu, hoặc vô số những phụ nữ bị hải tặc hãm hiếp giữa biển khơi trong nhục nhã hay bị bán làm nô lệ mất tích.
6. Đã hơn 36 năm qua, nhưng đến nay, cộng sản Việt Nam vẫn áp dụng chính sách khủng bố những người bất đồng chính kiến hoặc những người lên tiếng chỉ vì mong muốn có một chút tự do dân chủ và nhân quyền cho Việt Nam. Tất cả đều bị chúng tống vào nhà tù mà không cần xét xử hoặc với những bản án mà chúng làm sẵn và không cho họ được lên tiếng bào chữa bất chấp sự lên tiếng của quốc tế. Nhà tù Z30A huyện Xuân Lộc thuộc tỉnh Ðồng Nai Việt Nam, nơi mà số mộ tù nhân chết được chôn tại đây nhiều hơn số tù nhân sống sót, là nhà tù khét tiếng hiện nay có thể so sánh nhà tù Bastille của nước Pháp trước năm Cách mạng 1789, giam giữ có khi đến chết những tù nhân chính trị, những người dân oan ức, hoặc các nhân sĩ đấu tranh cho nhân quyền một cách ôn hoà bất bạo động.

Vì tất cả lý do trên chúng tôi khẩn khoản thỉnh cầu Tổng Thống quan tâm đặc biệt về việc nhà cầm quyền Hà Nội hiện nay đang theo đuổi một chính sách không dân chủ và không có nhân quyền và truy bức, đàn áp, giam giữ những người bất đồng chính kiến tại Việt Nam. Chúng tôi biết rằng với mục đích nhân đạo và muốn bảo vệ tuyến hàng hải quan trọng tại Biển Đông vì quyền lợi kinh tế chiến lược quốc gia mà Hoa Kỳ đến Việt Nam. Tuy nhiên, chưa bao giờ đảng cộng sản Việt Nam được người dân Việt Nam bỏ phiếu tín nhiệm trong dân chủ và công bằng là những đại diện thực sự hợp pháp cho họ, nên việc Hoa Kỳ liên kết với chế độ cộng sản Việt Nam nhằm bảo vệ lợi ích quốc gia của Hoa Kỳ trên Biển Đông mà bỏ quên sức mạnh dân chủ của hơn tám mươi triệu người dân trong nước phải sống dưới kềm kẹp và bất công của chế độ đó là điều chúng tôi xin Tổng Thống xem xét lại và do đó hơn bất cứ lúc nào giờ đây Hoa Kỳ cần nên có một chính sách mới cho Việt Nam. Hơn tám mươi triệu người dân Việt mới chính là nguồn yểm trợ mạnh mẽ nhất để bảo vệ quyền lợi Hoa Kỳ trên Biển Đông cũng như chính họ cùng với những tù nhân chính trị đang chịu những khổ hình trong các nhà tù cộng sản mới là những đồng minh tin cậy của Hoa Kỳ. Nếu Hoa Kỳ mang đến luồng gió mới dân chủ, tự do và nhân quyền cho Việt Nam thì chắc chắn tuyến hàng hải quan trọng mà Hoa Kỳ nhấn mạnh quyền lợi quốc gia Hoa Kỳ coi như được bảo vệ vững chắc mà có khi Hoa Kỳ không cần đến sự hiện diện của những hàng không mẫu hạm tối tân của Hoa Kỳ tại đây. Như trước đây Tổng Thống đã đòi hỏi cựu Tổng Thống Ai Cập Hosni Mubarak cần phải chuyển giao quyền hành nhanh chóng cho những người Ai Cập tay không nổi dậy khi họ tập trung tại Quảng Trường Tahrir chỉ lên tiếng đòi Tổng Thống Hosni Mubarak từ chức, chính phủ Hoa Kỳ cũng đã nhìn nhận chính nghĩa của phe nổi dậy tại Libya khi kêu gọi NATO yễm trợ cho những người “nổi loạn có chính nghĩa này” bởi vì chính họ đấu tranh vì một nền dân chủ thực sự cho Libya chống lại một chế độ phi lý của nhà độc tài Muamar Gadhafi. Hôm nay chúng tôi tin rằng Tổng Thống cũng sẽ mạnh mẽ lên tiếng về “Một Sự Thay Đổi” như một cuộc cách mạng cần thiết xảy đến với dân tộc chúng tôi như khẩu hiệu “Một Sự Thay Đổi” đối với đất nước Hoa Kỳ mà ông luôn đề cao trong cuộc vận động tranh cử vào năm 2008 và chính Tổng Thống đã thấy rằng toàn dân Hoa Kỳ đã hoan nghênh sự thay đổi ấy. Dân tộc Việt Nam chúng tôi sẽ hoan nghênh sự thay đổi ấy. Vào tháng 11/2011 sắp tới, khi Tổng Thống đến Ðông Á và có thể Tổng Thống sẽ đến thăm quê hương đau khổ của chúng tôi, chúng tôi tin rằng Tổng Thống sẽ lên tiếng mạnh mẽ lên tiếng yễm trợ cho một nền dân chủ, nhân quyền và tự do đến với tất cả mọi người dân chúng tôi. Và chúng tôi cũng thỉnh nguyện Tổng Thống:

1. Mạnh mẽ đòi hỏi nhà cầm quyền cộng sản Việt Nam phải trả tự do ngay lập tức tất cả các tù nhân lương tâm, các tù nhân chính trị, những người dân oan ức vì mất nhà mất đất do cộng sản Việt Nam tước đoạt hiện đang bị giam giữ bất công nhằm bịt miệng và trả thù những ai lên tiếng vì dân chủ cho quê hương họ. Do đó, chính phủ Hoa Kỳ cần nên có biện pháp theo dõi, kiểm tra, xác định tình trạng vô nhân đạo, dã man vi phạm nhân quyền trầm trọng mà nhà cầm quyền cộng sản Việt Nam hiện đang đối xử các tù nhân chính trị tại các nhà tù nhất là nhà tù lớn nhất hiện nay là Z30A tại Xuân Lộc, Ðồng Nai.
2. Mạnh mẽ lên tiếng về việc nhà cầm quyền cộng sản Việt Nam đã xử dụng công an có vũ trang công khai hay bí mật, với đồng phục hay ngụy trang dân sự được trang bị với những phương tiện sắt máu nhằm đàn áp, đánh đập, bắt bớ tù đày, giết chết hoặc bịt miệng những người dân tay không đã lên tiếng và ôn hoà biểu tình vì họ đã đòi hỏi sự công bằng, dân chủ, nhân quyền và công lý cho quê hương họ.

Sau cùng, chúng tôi vô cùng biết ơn Tổng Thống đã dành thì giờ đọc Thỉnh Nguyện Thư này, chúng tôi kính chúc Tổng Thống có một chuyến đi Ðông Á được mọi sự như ý, mang về sự thành công tốt đẹp mọi mặt kinh tế, chính trị và quốc phòng cho đất nước Hoa Kỳ. Chúng tôi kính chúc Tổng Thống một sự nghiệp luôn tươi sáng cùng với những thành công tốt đẹp nhất trong những tháng năm sắp tới.

Xin Ơn Trên luôn giúp đỡ ban phúc lành đến Tổng Thống và gia đình.

Trân trọng,

Nguyễn Ngọc Tiên

Chủ tịch Ban Ðại Diện Cộng Ðồng Việt Nam Bắc California

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Note:

Kính:

Cùng với Thỉnh Nguyện Thư gửi Tổng Thống Hoa Kỳ Barack Obama, một bức thư giới thiệu (introductory) kính gửi đến Ngoại Trưởng Hoa Kỳ Hillary R. Clinton nhằm thông báo Bà biết về Thỉnh Nguyện Thư này cũng như để Bà được tường.

Hai bức thư cùng với danh sách chữ ký tên sẽ được gửi đi đến The White House và The State Department bằng thư đăng ký (registered) trước tháng 9/2011.

Trân trọng,