Ex-C.I.A. Aides Say Iraq Leader Helped Agency in 90's Attacks -The New York Times

The New York Times> Search> Abstract:

"Former intelligence officials say Iyad Allawi, Iraq's designated prime minister, ran exile group that sent agents into Baghdad in early 1990's to plant bombs and sabotage Saddam Hussein's government, under CIA direction" (6/9/2004)

Allawi CIA/Torture - ContraCostaTimes.com | 01/30/2005 |

ContraCostaTimes.com | 01/30/2005 | Tough image cultivated by Allawi a hit with Iraqis:

"Critics have accused Allawi of positioning himself as 'Saddam lite.'

His background as a Baath Party operative until the 1970s, and then as a covert operative working with the CIA and British intelligence against Saddam, has exposed him to charges of possessing authoritarian tendencies.
......................

A Human Rights Watch report issued last week says that since Allawi's government took power in June, its police force has reverted to practices rife during Saddam's time: extreme torture of prisoners during interrogation, forced confessions, demands for exorbitant bribes to release prisoners detained without cause."

Florida GOP leaders opposing Bush effort to privatize more services: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Florida GOP leaders opposing Bush effort to privatize more services: South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

"Rocked by scandals and shoddy results, Gov. Jeb Bush's drive to turn over many state services and millions of taxpayer dollars to private companies appears certain to be slowed by the state's newly minted Republican leaders.
........................

For the governor, the move also may darken prospects for his latest major initiative -- a dramatic plan to overhaul Medicaid by giving private managed-care companies more control of health coverage for 2.3 million poor, elderly and disabled Floridians."

graham report predicts Allawi party will win in Iraq...

and will help author a constitution ushering in an Islamic Republic.

U.S. Judge: Guantanamo Tribunals Unconstitutional - REUTERS

Yahoo! News - U.S. Judge: Guantanamo Tribunals Unconstitutional:

"A U.S. judge ruled on Monday that the Guantanamo military tribunals for terrorism suspects are unconstitutional.

In a setback for the Bush administration, U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green also ruled the prisoners at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have constitutional protections under the law.

'The court concludes that the petitioners have stated valid claims under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and that the procedures implemented by the government to confirm that the petitioners are 'enemy combatants' subject to indefinite detention violate the petitioners' rights to due process of law,' Green wrote." MORE...

1/3 of Students Ignorant of US Values - AP

MSNBC - First Amendment no big deal, students say:

"The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories." MORE...

US in violation of UN Security Council Resolution in Iraq - CNN

CNN.com - Audit: U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds - Jan 30, 2005:

"Under a U.N. Security Council resolution, the Development Fund for Iraq was to be used for humanitarian needs, economic reconstruction and repair of infrastructure, continued disarmament, costs of civilian administration and other programs benefiting Iraqis."

BBC - 9B in Iraq reconstruction funds missing

BBC NEWS | Programmes | File on 4 | Iraq reconstruction funds missing:

"Almost $9bn (£4.7bn) of Iraqi oil revenue is missing from a fund set up to reconstruct the country.

The BBC's File On 4 programme has learnt that out of over $20bn raised in oil revenues during US-led rule, the use of $8.8bn is unaccounted for.

US government auditors criticise the Coalition Provisional Authority for failing to manage the money properly.
..................

On one occasion, $1.4bn had to be transported to a bank in three helicopters, as it weighed 14 tons, but no deposit slip was obtained when it was paid in.

The CPA has also come under attack for failing to prevent widespread fraud.

One US company is accused of massively inflating its profits by setting up sham companies to send fake invoices which the coalition paid.

Others are alleged to have demanded dubious commissions which then came out of Iraqi funds.

Even some Coalition officials are said to have openly demanded bribes of up to $300,000 in cash.

File On 4 reporter Gerry Northam explained: 'Many Iraqis are angry at the way the Coalition handled funds, particularly the money from their own oil, and especially where inexplicable amounts ended up in the hands of foreign businesses.'"

Under Pressure from Bush Administration, Qatar May Sell Jazeera - NYT

The New York Times > International > Middle East > Under Pressure, Qatar May Sell Jazeera Station:

"Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other Bush administration officials have complained heatedly to Qatari leaders that Al Jazeera's broadcasts have been inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq.

The pressure has been so intense, a senior Qatari official said, that the government is accelerating plans to put Al Jazeera on the market, though Bush administration officials counter that a privately owned station in the region may be no better from their point of view."

Bush Declares Iraq Election a Success

Yahoo! News - Bush Declares Iraq Election a Success:

"President Bush called Sunday's elections in Iraq a success"

Voices against Bush now heard emanating from unlikely places - Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/30/2005 |

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/30/2005 | Voices against Bush now heard emanating from unlikely places:

"Weekly Standard editor William Kristol was summoned by Bush aides late last year to help craft the inaugural speech, then lauded the finished speech as 'impressive' on Fox News.

But Christopher Preble, a Navy veteran of the 1991 Gulf War who directs foreign policy at the conservative Cato Institute, cites the ongoing downside - an average of two slain soldiers a day, and $2 billion a week - and offers this warning to the President:

'Conservatives were sold on the assumption that it wouldn't be long and costly. Now we're paying for it in taxpayer dollars and paying with our lives... . He can talk about doing other things - [curbing] abortion, reforming Social Security - but the war is where the rubber meets the road. If he truly feels he has a mandate for this, he's in for a rude awakening.'"

The Iraq vote: What the papers are saying in the Mideast

The Iraq vote: What the papers are saying in the Mideast:

"UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Dubai daily Al-Khaleej carried a front page report titled 'Iraqi elections in a state of war'.

We 'fear that the polls will lead to an internal struggle and the breaking up of Iraqi unity in a bid to achieve the goal of the occupation which is aimed at remaining in the country,' the newspaper said.

The daily hoped, however, that 'the Iraqi people will succeed in making these elections a prelude to the departure of foreign troops and the restoration of (Iraq's) sovereignty'." MORE...

Iraq elections explained

Aljazeera.Net - Iraq elections explained:

"The people of Iraq will be voting for a Transitional National Assembly comprised of 275 members....

...every third candidate in the list will be female.

All candidates must be over the age of 30...

Seats will be allocated by a system of exact proportional representation, meaning that each party or grouping will get the same proportion of seats in the assembly as it gets for its list in the popular vote.

An election for the autonomous Kurdish parliament in the north will take place on the same day as the nationwide poll, as will elections to local assemblies for each Iraqi province........

...groups with militias - such as Muqtada al-Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army - have been formally banned from running in the election.

The assembly will be able to choose Iraq's government and will have the power to enact laws. Its first duty will be to elect a president and two deputies, who in turn will choose a prime minister, also from the assembly.

The prime minister will be the main figure of authority, exercising power over the armed forces, for example...

The other primary role of the assembly is to draw up a draft constitution by 15 August 2005 and submit this to a referendum by 15 October 2005.

When the constitution is approved, elections will be held by 15 December 2005 and a fully constitutional government will assume power by 31 December 2005.

If the constitution is rejected there will be new assembly elections by 15 December 2005, with a third year then allocated for the entire process.

There is also provision for a delay of six months if insufficient progress is made on the constitution by 1 August 2005."

Framingham resident says U.S. officials sent him to Syrian torturers for no reason - MetroWest Daily News

MetroWest Daily News - Local News Coverage:

"Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who lived on Framingham's Coburn Street from 1999 to 2001, said U.S. officials nabbed him in a New York airport as a presumed al Qaeda terrorist and sent him to Syria where he was tortured for 10 months."...
........

In Canada, the Arar Inquiry has so dominated the Canadian press over the past eight months that Time Magazine Canada named Arar "Canadian Newsmaker of the Year" in December. MORE...

CIA accused of link to Iraq prison torture - SpecialsWarOnIraq - www.smh.com.au

CIA accused of link to Iraq prison torture - SpecialsWarOnIraq - www.smh.com.au:

"General Karpinski's allegations are supported by a still-classified US Army report on prison conditions in Iraq documenting many of the worst abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, including the sexual humiliation of prisoners."

Third Journalist Was Paid (with taxpayers funds) to Promote Bush Policies - NYT

The New York Times > Washington > Third Journalist Was Paid to Promote Bush Policies:

"The Bush administration acknowledged on Friday that it had paid a third conservative commentator, and at least two departments said they were conducting internal inquiries to see if other journalists were under government contract. The investigative arm of Congress also formally began an inquiry of its own."

Degrading torture on Habib: lawyer - Iraq - www.theage.com.au

Degrading torture on Habib: lawyer - Iraq - www.theage.com.au:

"The lawyer for Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib has outlined an extraordinary series of torture methods that he says were used against his client by the United States.

Steven Hopper said that Mr Habib was tied to the ground while a prostitute menstruated on him after he failed to co-operate with interrogators.

Mr Habib is due back in Australia within a week after the US said it would release him without charge."...
......................

Mr Hopper told The Age last night that interrogators also defaced photographs of his four children that had been sent to him by his wife Maha. He said they superimposed the heads from the photographs on the bodies of animals offensive to Muslims, such as pigs.
.....................

"They held up a picture of Maha and said 'It's a shame we had to kill your family'," MORE...

U.S. Backs Off Relaxing Rules for Big Media - NYT

The New York Times > Business > Media & Advertising > U.S. Backs Off Relaxing Rules for Big Media:

"Media companies hoping to expand their television station holdings and to own both TV stations and newspapers in the same markets suffered a setback yesterday when the Bush administration decided to abandon its challenge to a ruling that blocked the relaxation of ownership rules.
.........

The decision is a final slap to Michael K. Powell, the departing chairman of the F.C.C., who had advocated the changes." MORE...

Transcript: Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing (For Author of Torture Memos)

The New York Times > Washington > Transcript: Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing:

"SEN. DURBIN: ...In your August memo, you created the possibility that the president could invoke his authority as commander in chief not only to suspend the Geneva Convention but the application of other laws. Do you stand by that position?

MR. GONZALES: I believe that I said in response to an earlier question that I do believe it is possible...
.............................

SEN. DURBIN: ...you believe he has that authority; he could ignore a law passed by this Congress, signed by this president or another one, and decide that it is unconstitutional and refuse to comply with that law?

MR. GONZALES: ...I guess I would have to say that hypothetically that authority may exist....

SEN. DURBIN: Fifty-two years ago... The Supreme Court said, as you know, 'President Truman, you're wrong. You don't have the authority to decide what's constitutional, what laws you like and don't like.' I'm troubled that you would think, as our incoming attorney general, that a president can pick or choose the laws that he thinks are unconstitutional and ultimately wait for that test in court to decide whether or not he's going to comply with the law." ...

Transcript: Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing (For Author of Torture Memos)

The New York Times > Washington > Transcript: Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing:

"SEN. SCHUMER: ...Do you believe filibusters of judicial nominees violate the Constitution, and on what basis, if you do?

MR. GONZALES: Senator, we talked about this in our meeting and I -- my answer --

SEN. SCHUMER: We did, and you were going to think about it.

MR. GONZALES: And my answer today --

SEN. SCHUMER: You've had time to think about it.

MR. GONZALES: My answer today is the same as it was in our meeting, and that is I do not have a view as to whether or not it's constitutional."

Transcript: Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing (For Author of Torture Memos)

The New York Times > Washington > Transcript: Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing:

"SEN. KOHL: ...I think the American people, by and large, Judge Gonzales, believe that accountability should at least be focused on people above the level of those at that level who committed the atrocities. What do you think, Judge Gonzales?

MR. GONZALES: I believe that people should be held accountable. ... There was a failure of discipline amongst the supervisors, of the guards there at Abu Ghraib, and also they found that there was a failure in training and oversight at multiple layers of Command Joint Task Force 7. And so I think there was clearly a failure well above the actions of the individuals who actually were in the prison." MORE...

Transcript: Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing (for Author of Tortue Memos)

The New York Times > Washington > Transcript: Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing:

..."SEN. FEINGOLD: On that point, one of the case involved, an inmate on death row named Carl Johnson. He was executed in September 1995, during the first year that Governor Bush was in office and you were his counsel on these matters. Mr. Johnson was represented by a lawyer named Joe Cannon, who slept through the major portions of the trial, and who was apparently notorious in legal circles for this behavior. In his challenges appealing the trial conviction, Mr. Johnson argued consistently that he had had ineffective assistance of counsel, primarily based on the sleeping lawyer who represented him at trial. In your memo to the governor discussing this case and impending execution, however, you failed to make any mention whatsoever of the basis for Mr. Johnson's appeal. You go to great lengths to describe the underlying facts of the murder, but there's no mention of the fact that this lawyer slept through the major portions of the trial...

MR. GONZALES: ... -- I don't remember the facts of this particular case...

SEN. FEINGOLD: Well, that's -- this is a very famous case. It's hard for me to imagine that you don't know the specifics of it. And it's almost unimaginable to me that a final formal legal memo to the governor would not have included reference to the fact that this man's lawyer slept during the trial." MORE...

The Sun News | 01/26/2005 | Treaty doesn't bar 'cruel' tactics, Gonzales says

The Sun News | 01/26/2005 | Treaty doesn't bar 'cruel' tactics, Gonzales says:

"Gonzales told senators that laws and treaties prohibit torture by any U.S. agent without exception.

But he said the Convention Against Torture treaty, as ratified by the Senate, doesn't prohibit the use of 'cruel, inhuman or degrading' tactics on non-U.S. citizens who are captured abroad.

Gonzales, White House counsel and a close Bush adviser, described recent reports of prisoner abuse as 'shocking and deeply troubling.'"...

CBS - ECONONY - SLOWEST GROWTH IN SEVEN QUARTERS

NewsFinder:

"Growth in the U.S. economy slowed in the fourth quarter to a 3.1 percent annualized rate, the weakest growth in seven quarters"

AP: Gitmo Soldier Details Sexual Tactics

Yahoo! News - AP: Gitmo Soldier Details Sexual Tactics:

......she removed her uniform top to expose a tight-fitting T-shirt and began taunting the detainee, touching her breasts, rubbing them against the prisoner's back and commenting on his apparent erection.
.........................

"At Guantanamo, Saar said, 'Interrogators were given a lot of latitude under Miller,' the commander who went from the prison in Cuba to overseeing prisons in Iraq (news - web sites), where the Abu Ghraib scandal shocked the world with pictures revealing sexual humiliation of naked prisoners."

Gitmo Soldier Details Sexual Tactics - AP

Yahoo! News - AP: Gitmo Soldier Details Sexual Tactics:

...she removed her uniform top to expose a tight-fitting T-shirt and began taunting the detainee, touching her breasts, rubbing them against the prisoner's back and commenting on his apparent erection.
.........................

"At Guantanamo, Saar said, 'Interrogators were given a lot of latitude under Miller,' the commander who went from the prison in Cuba to overseeing prisons in Iraq, where the Abu Ghraib scandal shocked the world with pictures revealing sexual humiliation of naked prisoner" ...

State: GOP joins chorus of critics on privatizing

State: GOP joins chorus of critics on privatizing:

"Ongoing problems in the state's new payroll system are accomplishing what years of complaints by state employee unions and Democrats could not: Republican resistance to the idea of privatizing state government.

Six years after Gov. Jeb Bush began his push to outsource government services to shrink state employee rolls, Republican legislative leaders are starting to push back, saying the trend often has led to questionable decisions and lax oversight."

Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy - nationalgeographic.com

Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy:

"Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras—a hybrid creature that's part human, part animal.

Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University in 2003 successfully fused human cells with rabbit eggs. ..

In Minnesota last year researchers at the Mayo Clinic created pigs with human blood flowing through their bodies.

And at Stanford University in California an experiment might be done later this year to create mice with human brains."...

Bush: Still on track to halve deficit - cbs.marketwatch.com-

Bush: Still on track to halve deficit - Financial - Financial Services - Economy - Bond Market:

"Despite a White House forecast for a record $427 billion deficit in fiscal 2005, President Bush on Wednesday said he remains on track to cutting the deficit in half by 2009."

Economist: China Loses Faith in Dollar

Economist: China Loses Faith in Dollar:

"'The U.S. dollar is no longer - in our opinion is no longer - (seen) as a stable currency, and is devaluating all the time, and that's putting troubles all the time,' Fan said, speaking in English."

Turner introduces bill to ban 'credit scoring' HoustonChronicle.com

HoustonChronicle.com - Turner introduces bill to ban 'credit scoring':

"AUSTIN - Electricity providers would not be allowed to deny service or charge higher rates to customers with poor credit history under legislation proposed by a Houston lawmaker." ...

China takes top spot in trade with Japan

China takes top spot in trade with Japan:

"U.S. now No.2, but remains key market

TOKYO China surpassed the United States as Japan's top trading partner for the first time last year..." MORE...

Guantanamo four arrive back in UK

Guantanamo four arrive back in UK:

"Mr Begg wrote that he had been tortured while listening to the 'terrifying screams' of other inmates."

Col. David H. Hackworth: Nickel-and-diming the troops

WorldNetDaily: Nickel-and-diming the troops:

"Not only is the average soldier's salary barely life-sustaining, the combat pay of the average grunt in Afghanistan and Iraq is only $7.50 a day, or a measly $225 a month. And to make matters worse, the folks bringing up the rear – hundreds of miles from the horror show – are pulling down the same combat pay as our heroes who daily lay their lives on the line." MORE...

baltimoresun.com - Iraq Abuse claims multiplying

baltimoresun.com - Abuse claims multiplying:

"The files included probes into at least seven deaths.
.........................

Records of Army's investigations show many cases like Abu Ghraib over 2 years; Soldiers in Iraq seldom charged or punished; Documents contradict military assertion that mistreatment of detainees is rare.
...........................

Other abuse allegations included:

# A 73-year-old Iraqi woman told Army investigators she was subjected to sexual abuses...

# An October 2003 investigation found the soldiers who routinely stole money from detainees at a downtown Baghdad facility - what they called a 'Robin Hood Tax' that went to buy sodas, ice and liquor - also were accused of beating hooded and handcuffed prisoners. One soldier reported seeing two others hold a detainee while a third 'boot stomped' him in the gut, and also seeing a second detainee held against the wall while a soldier hit him in the stomach with a 'chunk of wood.'

When he reported the treatment, the soldier said he was told by a staff sergeant: 'After you been at the hard site awhile you'll be doing it too.' Two soldiers were found guilty at courts-martial...

# After a soldier's wife last summer turned over to investigators a photo showing him pointing a gun at the head of a bound and hooded detainee, the soldier claimed he was acting at the direction of CIA and special forces operatives...

# A detainee held by members of a Navy SEAL team at a facility in Mosul, Iraq, said he was stripped, subjected to loud music, doused with cold water and threatened that if he did not confess, 'they would bring my wife and my mother and that they would rape them.'... MORE

Bloomberg- Vioxx May Have Caused 140,000 Heart Attacks, FDA Scientist Says

Bloomberg.com: U.S.:

"Merck & Co.'s Vioxx painkiller may have caused as many as 140,000 heart attacks in the U.S. before it was withdrawn Sept. 30, Food and Drug Administration safety reviewer David Graham said in a study published online today by the British medical journal Lancet."

Catholic News Service: Pope urges media workers to use their crafts to foster peace

CNS STORY: Pope urges media workers to use their crafts to foster peace:

"However, he said, the mass media are vulnerable to misuse, causing 'untold harm, giving rise to misunderstanding, prejudice and even conflict.'
.....................

The mass media can incorrectly represent other people through words or images steeped in hostility, the pope said.

By demonizing people from other social, ethnic or religious groups, the mass media can sow the seeds of conflict by fomenting fear and hatred, which 'can all too easily escalate into violence, war or even genocide,' he said."

80 Billion more for Iraq: Tied to Tsunami Aid - Ruters

Reuters News Article:

"The Bush administration plans to announce as early as Tuesday that it will seek about $80 billion in new funding for military operations this year in Iraq and Afghanistan...
.........................


Up to $650 million is expected to be included in the package to fund humanitarian aid ... in Asian countries devastated by last month's tsunami, congressional aides said."

Reuters.com - HRW - Iraqi authorities routinely torture prisoners

International News Article | Reuters.com:

"Iraqi authorities routinely torture prisoners, a leading human rights group said Tuesday, citing examples of abuse which will sound all too familiar to those who suffered under Saddam Hussein.

Prisoners have been beaten with cables and hosepipes, and suffered electric shocks to their earlobes and genitals, the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch said. Some have been starved of food and water and crammed into standing-room only cells."

MSNBC - Guantanamo prisoners attempted mass suicide

MSNBC - Guantanamo prisoners attempted mass suicide:

"Twenty-three terror suspects tried to hang or strangle themselves at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay during a mass protest in 2003, the military confirmed Monday.

The incidents came during the same year the camp suffered a rash of suicide attempts after Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller took command of the prison with a mandate to get more information from prisoners accused of links to al-Qaida or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered it." MORE...

MSNBC - Guantanamo prisoners attempted mass suicide

MSNBC - Guantanamo prisoners attempted mass suicide:

"Twenty-three terror suspects tried to hang or strangle themselves at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay during a mass protest in 2003, the military confirmed Monday.

The incidents came during the same year the camp suffered a rash of suicide attempts after Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller took command of the prison with a mandate to get more information from prisoners accused of links to al-Qaida or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered it." MORE...

Yahoo! News - Saudi Clerics Point Militants Toward Iraq

Yahoo! News - Saudi Clerics Point Militants Toward Iraq:

"Fundamentalist Islamic leaders in Saudi Arabia are telling militants intent on fighting 'infidels' to join the insurgency in Iraq instead of taking up Osama bin Laden's call to oust the Saudi royal family at home..." MORE...

Yahoo! News - Recruits swamp Navy, Air Force

Yahoo! News - Recruits swamp Navy, Air Force:

"While the Army and the Marine Corps are straining to meet their yearly recruiting goals, the Air Force and the Navy are having banner years and may wind up turning away thousands of potential recruits.
........................

Of the more than 1,350 U.S. deaths during the Iraq war, 41 have come from the Air Force and the Navy, according to a Defense Department breakdown of war deaths. The vast majority of those killed are active Army and Marine Corps troops and reservists from those two branches." MORE...

Republicans Skeptical of Bush Social Security Plan

Republicans Skeptical of Bush Social Security Plan:

"Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine... said on CNN's 'Inside Politics Sunday' that she was 'certainly not going to support diverting $2 trillion from Social Security into creating personal savings accounts.'" MORE...

BBC NEWS | Business | Central banks 'shunning dollar'

BBC NEWS | Business | Central banks 'shunning dollar':

"The poll carried out by Central Banking Publications found 39 nations of the 65 surveyed raising their euro holdings, with 29 cutting back on the US dollar.

The dollar's sharp fall in the face of huge deficits could be one cause of the switch, the report says.

The survey was sponsored by the UK's Royal Bank of Scotland."

FINANCIAL TIMES - Iraq - Cynicism hits the thirst for Iraq’s elections

FT.com / News in depth / Iraq - Cynicism hits the thirst for Iraq’s elections:

"The water crisis, which US sources say has cut supplies by 30 to 40 per cent and left neighbourhoods in the south and west of the city entirely dry, comes on top of an acute petrol shortage that has forced motorists to queue for up to 12 hours, as well as chronic power cuts."

Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain (washingtonpost.com)

Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain (washingtonpost.com):

"A recent Pentagon memo states that recruited agents may include 'notorious figures' whose links to the U.S. government would be embarrassing if disclosed."
.......................

"Pentagon lawyers also define the "war on terror" as ongoing, indefinite and global in scope. That analysis effectively discards the limitation of the defense secretary's war powers to times and places of imminent combat." MORE...

EU Considers Banning Junk Food Ads | Europe | Deutsche Welle |

EU Considers Banning Junk Food Ads | Europe | Deutsche Welle |:

"In a bid to tackle Europe’s growing obesity problem, Brussels has warned food companies to stop advertising junk food to children. Either the industry applies self-regulation or faces legislation, says the EU."

Rumsfeld to Bypass Munich Conference | Germany | Deutsche Welle |

Rumsfeld to Bypass Munich Conference | Germany | Deutsche Welle |:

"... some have speculated that his decision not to attend the meeting was influenced by a complaint filed against him by a New York-based human rights group, the Center for Constitutional Rights.

In December, the group filed a complaint with the Federal German Prosecutor's Office against Rumsfeld, accusing him of war crimes and torture due to his involvement in the war in Iraq.

The defense secretary later sent a message to the German government through the US embassy in Berlin that he would not attend the Munich meeting if there is a chance a case will be launched against him in Germany."

Afghan women still in chains under Karzai - [Sunday Herald]

Afghan women still in chains under Karzai - [Sunday Herald]:

"Sharifa was 12 years old when she was forced to marry a 30-year-old man. He immediately began prostituting her, but Sharifa was too ashamed to tell her family and he would beat her if she complained.
............................

A year later she fled and was caught again, receiving a longer sentence – only this time her captors had been installed by the American-led coalition. In President Hamid Karzai’s Afghanistan, women are still imprisoned for running away from home."

Whitehouse.gov - Bush Inaugural 2005

President Sworn-In to Second Term:

"All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors." MORE...

New Afghan laws still repress women

Afghan laws still repress women:

"-- Shazia is only 13. Her voice is barely audible. Around adults, she bites her nails and tugs at her black chiffon scarf, covering her face and hazel eyes.

She is one of the hardened criminals inside the dank and forbidding walls of Kabul's Provincial Jail for women. Her crime: running away from the 45-year-old husband she was forced to marry.
.............

'I want a divorce,' said Shazia, who like many Afghans does not have a last name. 'My husband beats me. I'm not happy with him.'
..............

...Aminzada said. 'We put them in prison for three to four months. This is an Islamic society." MORE... (Chicago Tribune, April 28, 2002 - http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/index.html?ts=1106417824)

Columbia Law Panel: Civil Rights For Women in Afghanistan?

Columbia Law: Civil Rights for Women?:

"The freedom women in Afghanistan enjoy today is a curious freedom indeed. It is a freedom to be married at age 9 to a man 5, 6 or 7 times her age, and then be deprived of the ability to go to school by virtue of her new status as wife. It is a freedom to walk the streets without being fully covered by a burka, but at the risk of being subjected to a virginity exam by agents of the Ministry of Enforcement of Virtue and Suppression of Vice - a ministry established by the Taliban, but retained by President Karzai under the new name Ministry of Religious Affairs." MORE... (February 17th (2003) )

The New Afghanistan - US Dept. of State: Converting to another religion from Islam May Carry Death Penalty

Afghanistan:

"The new Constitution declares the country to be an 'Islamic
Republic.' ... .
.....................

Blasphemy and apostasy (converting from Islam to another religion) fall under the latter category, and are--in theory--punishable by death." MORE...

Christian Broadcasting Network - Afghan Constitution: A Muslim who converts could face the death penalty.

Afghan Constitution Enshrines 'Sacred Religion of Islam':

"Shinwari is chief justice of Afghanistan's Supreme Court. A radical fundamentalist Muslim, Shinwari has stacked the bench with judges pushing for Taliban-style law.

Ultimately, the battle for human rights will be waged in the Afghan courts. According to the new constitution, judges 'must have a higher education in Islamic jurisprudence.'

Which means that Afghan judges don't need any training in civil law.
...........................

Also, under this new constitution, there is no freedom of conversion. A Muslim who converts to Christianity or any other religion could face the death penalty.
....................

...Christian evangelism could be considered a crime.

Under this constitution, distributing Christian literature, holding Bible classes and raising money for Christian activity, could be considered against 'the sacred religion of Islam.'

Religious freedom watchers warn that this constitution could pave the way for a 'Taliban-like' regime in Afghanistan
.....................

Thomas: Unfortunately, in this constitution the key phrase there is: that no law can be against 'the principles of the sacred religion of Islam'. Which bodes very badly for Christians.... .

Just a couple of days ago, this Muslim woman went on national television, without her face covered, she decided to sing an old time favorite song of Afghanistan and the judges-these radical judges-said, 'no that is against the constitution.' ..." MORE... (from 1/04)

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | World press electrified by Bush vision

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | World press electrified by Bush vision:

"The democracy President Bush's administration is promising is a bloody one." MORE EXCERPTS FROM FOREIGN PRESS...

Herald Sun: Taliban issues message from Omar [20jan05]

Herald Sun: Taliban issues message from Omar [20jan05]:

"TALIBAN guerrillas have issued a statement ... from leader Mullah Omar in which he dismissed reports that members of his radical Islamic movement were willing to lay down arms.
.........................

Omar, one the most wanted men in the world, has eluded thousands of US-led troops since the Taliban was ousted from power three years ago for sheltering al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11 attacks."

Bush Pulls 'Neocons' Out of the Shadows

Bush Pulls 'Neocons' Out of the Shadows:

"'If Bush means it literally, then it means we have an extremist in the White House,' said Dimitri Simes, president of the Nixon Center, a conservative think tank that reveres the less idealistic policies of Richard Nixon. 'I hope and pray that he didn't mean it … [and] that it was merely an inspirational speech, not practical guidance for the conduct of foreign policy.'"

AP Wire | 01/22/2005 | U.S. Ends Homeland Security Grant Programs

AP Wire | 01/22/2005 | U.S. Ends Homeland Security Grant Programs:

"The government has ended grant programs that has provided more than $1.2 million a year since 2002 for two homeland security organizations that distribute information about potential threats to oil and gas and public transit companies."

International News Article | Reuters.com

International News Article | Reuters.com:

"'Based on the goodwill gesture by the Chinese government, which included a state ban on Chinese entering Iraq, the Numaan Brigades have decided to release the eight,' the speaker on the tape said.
.......................

The group... [had] demanded that China ban its nationals from entering or remaining in Iraq...."

KR Washington Bureau | 01/21/2005 | Analysis: Iraqi insurgency growing larger, more effective

KR Washington Bureau | 01/21/2005 | Analysis: Iraqi insurgency growing larger, more effective:

"The unfavorable trends of the war are clear:

- U.S. military fatalities from hostile acts have risen from an average of about 17 per month just after President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003, to an average of 71 per month.

- The average number of U.S. soldiers wounded by hostile acts per month has spiraled from 142 to 708 during the same period. Iraqi civilians have suffered even more deaths and injuries, although reliable statistics aren't available.

- Attacks on the U.S.-led coalition since November 2003, when statistics were first available, have risen from 735 a month to 2,400 in October. Air Force Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, the multinational forces' deputy operations director, told Knight Ridder on Friday that attacks were currently running at 75 a day, about 2,300 a month, well below a spike in November during the assault on Fallujah, but nearly as high as October's total.

-The average number of mass-casualty bombings has grown from zero in the first four months of the American occupation to an average of 13.3 per month.

- Electricity production has been below pre-war levels since October, largely because of sabotage by insurgents, with just 6.7 hours of power daily in Baghdad in early January, according to the State Department.

- Iraq is pumping about 500,000 barrels a day fewer than its pre-war peak of 2.5 million barrels per day as a result of attacks, according to the State Department.

'All the trend lines we can identify are all in the wrong direction,' said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, a Washington policy research organization. 'We are not winning, and the security trend lines could almost lead you to believe that we are losing.'"

ABC News: Abu Ghraib Guard Tells Story to '20/20'

ABC News: Abu Ghraib Guard Tells Story to '20/20':

She says the photographs were so well known among U.S. personnel at the prison that some people even used the photographs as screen savers on their computers."

The New York Times > Missing Money: Mystery in Iraq as $300 Million is Taken Abroad

The New York Times > International > Middle East > Missing Money: Mystery in Iraq as $300 Million is Taken Abroad:

"Earlier this month, according to Iraqi officials, $300 million in American bills was taken out of Iraq's Central Bank, put into boxes and quietly put on a charter jet bound for Lebanon."

ABC News: Icelanders Take Out Anti Iraq War Ad in NY Times

ABC News: Icelanders Take Anti Iraq War Campaign to U.S.:

"A group of nationals from tiny Iceland slammed their government's support of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, apologizing to Iraqis in a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Friday." MORE...

Entertainment: Industry Article | Reuters.com

Entertainment: Industry Article | Reuters.com: "Clear Channel Communications Inc. on Wednesday said it converted three stations to a liberal talk format and this year could double to 44 the number of stations carrying such programming."

Wall Street Journal - Front Page: Marketplace - Radio's Bush-Bashing Air America Is Back in Fighting Form

WSJ.com - Radio's Bush-Bashing Air America Is Back in Fighting Form:

"When Air America was launched last April 1, Clear Channel tested it in Portland, Ore., on a poorly performing golden-oldies station, KPOJ. Results were startlingly good. Among its target audience of adults aged 25 to 54, the station moved from No. 26 to No. 3.
...............

This week, Clear Channel is flipping three more stations to an Air America-heavy format, bringing Air America programming -- Clear Channel calls it 'progressive talk' -- to 22 Clear Channel stations around the country."

Reuters - Clear Channel Rolls Out More Liberal Talk Radio

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=industryNews&storyID=7374746

Clear Channel Communications Inc. on Wednesday said it converted three stations to a liberal talk format and this year could double to 44 the number of stations carrying such programming.

A Social Security 'Disaster' Predicted

A Social Security 'Disaster' Predicted:

"Administration officials have told allies they are considering a plan that would give future retirees lower benefits than they are now promised."

nbc6.net - News - Rush Limbaugh Asks High Court To Give Medical Records Back

nbc6.net - News - Rush Limbaugh Asks High Court To Give Medical Records Back:

"Rush Limbaugh asked the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday to return his medical records to his doctors and permanently keep them from prosecutors investigating his use of painkillers."

The New York Times > G.O.P. Irate Over Democrats Delay of Rice Confirmation

The New York Times > Washington > G.O.P. Irate Over Delay on Rice Vote:

"'If this is the kind of comity we can expect for the rest of the session, we are not getting off to a good start,' said Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, a member of the Republican leadership. 'It is churlish.'"

BBC NEWS | Business | JP Morgan admits US slavery links

BBC NEWS | Business | JP Morgan admits US slavery links:

"Thousands of slaves were accepted as collateral for loans by two banks that later became part of JP Morgan Chase."

Newsday.com - State/Region News

Newsday.com - State/Region News:

"Merck & Co. has decided to stop supplying its drugs to Canadian pharmacies that export the medicines to patients in the United States, the company confirmed Thursday."

BBC NEWS | Falluja

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Falluja 'will get government aid':

" ...a top US commander says the offensive there has 'broken the back of the insurgency' across Iraq.

Lt Gen John Sattler said the operation had 'taken away this safe haven' which he alleged was used as a base for the nationwide Iraqi rebellion." (FROM NOV. 12 2004) MORE...

FOXNews.com - Rumsfeld: Violence is the work of a few thugs

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Rumsfeld: Some Troops May Stay Longer in Iraq:

"Rumsfeld said the violence, which has claimed nearly three dozen American lives since last weekend, is the work of a few 'thugs, gangs and terrorists' and is not a popular uprising over the U.S.-led occupation.

'The number of people involved in those battles is relatively small,' Rumsfeld said" (FROM APRIL 8, 2004) MORE...

Financial Times - Iraq - UN ‘cannot observe’ Iraqi elections

FT.com / News in depth / Iraq - UN ‘cannot observe’ Iraqi elections:

"United Nations diplomats are warning that Iraq's first democratic election will be held without wide-scale international monitoring."

The New York Times > Senate Panel Delays Vote on Gonzales

The New York Times > Washington > Senate Panel Delays Vote on Gonzales:

"The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on Alberto R. Gonzales's nomination for attorney general on Wednesday after Democrats accused Mr. Gonzales of evading their questions about the Bush administration's policies on the treatment of prisoners captured in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The New York Times > Rancor in the U.S. Ranks: U.S. Military Personnel Growing Critical of the War in Iraq

The New York Times > International > Europe > Rancor in the U.S. Ranks: U.S. Military Personnel Growing Critical of the War in Iraq:

"'I can't go back to this war. I don't want to kill innocent people.' He talks about the constant pressure soldiers face to make decisions in the daily grind of war. Once, when a car came too close to their Baghdad checkpoint, his commanding officer ordered him to shoot, even though Anderson could only make out a man and children in the vehicle. The soldier refused. 'Next time you shoot,' his commanding officer barked.

On another occasion, the safety on his automatic weapon was all that prevented Anderson from losing control. 'I was holding a heavily injured comrade in my arms, there was blood all over the place, and Iraqis were cheering all around us,' he recalls. 'I was so furious that all I wanted to do was kill someone, anyone.'

Anderson has now applied for political asylum in Canada."

RICE - A Question of Credibility (washingtonpost.com)

A Question of Credibility (washingtonpost.com):

"Here is the complete transcript. And here, specifically, is the text of that Boxer-Rice exchange. (NOTE - FOLLOW LINKS TO ALL TRANSCRIPTS FROM ARTICLE)

Boxer started off: 'Now, perhaps the most well-known statement you've made was the one about Saddam Hussein launching a nuclear weapon on America with the image of, quote, quoting you, 'a mushroom cloud.' That image had to frighten every American into believing that Saddam Hussein was on the verge of annihilating them if he was not stopped.'
........................

Boxer continued: 'On July 30th, 2003, you were asked by PBS NewsHour's Gwen Ifill if you continued to stand by the claims you made about Saddam's nuclear program in the days and months leading up to the war.

'In what appears to be an effort to downplay the nuclear-weapons scare tactics you used before the war, your answer was, and I quote, 'It was a case that said he was trying to reconstitute. He's trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Nobody ever said that it was going to be the next year.' '
.............................

And, Boxer said: 'On October 10th, '04, on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, three months ago, you were asked about CIA Director Tenet's remark that prior to the war he had, quote, 'made it clear to the White House that he thought the nuclear-weapons program was much weaker than the program to develop other WMDs.'

Your response was this: 'The intelligence assessment was that he was reconstituting his nuclear program; that, left unchecked, he would have a nuclear weapon by the end of the year.' '

Boxer concluded: 'So here you are, first contradicting the president and then contradicting yourself. So it's hard to even ask you a question about this, because you are on the record basically taking two sides of an issue. And this does not serve the American people.'

So did Rice clear it all up? MORE...

Cheney Upholds Power of the President to Withhold Documents (washingtonpost.com)

Cheney Upholds Power of the Presidency (washingtonpost.com):

The vice president has been at the forefront of an effort by the Bush White House to promote an expansive view of presidential power by frequently invoking constitutional principle in refusing to hand over documents to Congress or allowing administration officials to testify before congressional committees.

The White House, for example, initially refused a request by the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks to allow national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify... ."

Scotsman.com News - Cuba Tells US to Stop Guantanamo Bay Prisoners 'Abuse'

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Cuba Tells US to Stop Guantanamo Bay Prisoners 'Abuse':

"US officials say they are investigating allegations of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay described in recently released FBI documents.

Cuba said the US had been lying in an attempt to hide “the horrendous torture, cruelty and humiliating and insulting treatment of prisoners” that are all part of the abuse “the US government commits every day”, the Foreign Ministry statement said.

The ministry also accused the US of hypocrisy by focusing more on alleged human rights abuses in other countries than its own practises.

“The dramatic reality of prisoners detained at the naval base of Guantanamo ... reveals the two-faced nature of the US government in its crumbling and manipulative campaign in favour of human rights,” the statement said."

New Pictures reveal British soldiers abusing Iraqis

Pictures 'reveal soldiers abusing Iraqis':

"SHOCKING photographs allegedly showing British soldiers abusing Iraqi civilian prisoners have been shown to a court martial.

Among the set of 22 pictures were images of bound detainees facing simulated punches and kicks from soldiers, an Iraqi tied to a fork-lift truck and naked detainees simulating sex acts.
................

In one image an Iraqi detainee, bound from the waist up in blue netting, lies cowering on a dusty floor while a soldier simulates punching him.

A similar shot shows the man with his head on a patch of water, as a soldier aims a 'simulated' kick at him.

SHOCKING: Lance Corporal Mark Cooley simulating a punch to an Iraqi detainee (Picture: British Court Martial Handout/PA)

Lt Col Nick Clapham, prosecuting, told the hearing the camp's commander Major Dan Taylor had ordered that looters should be 'worked hard' - an order Lt Col Clapham conceded was a breach of the Geneva Convention. MORE, PHOTOS...

DNC: Health News - Air Pollution Probable Cause of Most Childhood Cancers, Says Study

DNC: Health News - Air Pollution Probable Cause of Most Childhood Cancers, Says Study:

"Children born within a 1 kilometer radius of emissions hotspots of particular chemicals were between two and four times as likely to die of cancer before reaching the age of 16 as other children.
Exposure of preganant women to air pollution is the most likely cause of childhood cancers, suggests a British study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health."

USATODAY.com - Exit pollsters to release election report to media, not to public

USATODAY.com - Exit pollsters to release election report to media:

"Because the report's conclusions might not be made public, the report is unlikely to appease critics who say the six media companies have moved too slowly to release information collected in the exit polls and have said too little about possible problems with those surveys.
.....................

Some organizations, including Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, have been clamoring for further investigations into allegations of voting irregularities in Ohio and some other states. Last month, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., sent a letter to networks requesting the 'raw data' from Ohio exit polls, which he says might be of use in such inquiries — if the data are reliable.
.....................

The reason to care about poll reporting: If the media don't accurately report what polls are saying about who's ahead, who's behind and what issues matter most, politicians may take the nation down paths voters don't want to travel."

FOXNews.com - Saddam May Not Have Moved WMD

FOXNews.com - Politics - Saddam May Not Have Moved WMD:

"...the officials familiar with the search say U.S. authorities have found no evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (search) transferred WMD or related equipment out of Iraq." MORE...

The New York Times > Abu Ghraib Scandal: High-Ranking Officers May Face Prosecution in Iraqi Prisoner Abuse, Military Officials Say

The New York Times > National > Abu Ghraib Scandal: High-Ranking Officers May Face Prosecution in Iraqi Prisoner Abuse, Military Officials Say:

"But the scandal, which exploded last spring, has led to several Pentagon investigations that have found what one called 'personal responsibility at higher levels,' not only for failure to supervise and enforce discipline, but also in some cases for condoning and encouraging mistreatment of detainees in cell blocks and during interrogations.
.........................

That report implicated 29 other military intelligence soldiers in at least 44 cases of abuse from July 2003 to February 2004, including one death, beatings, using dogs to threaten adolescent detainees, and having prisoners stripped naked and left for hours in dark, poorly ventilated cells that were stifling hot or freezing cold.
..........................

A classified portion of the report said Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former top commander in Iraq, approved the use there of some interrogation practices intended to be limited to captives held in Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba." MORE...

The Observer | Abu Ghraib abuse firms are rewarded

The Observer | International | Abu Ghraib abuse firms are rewarded: "Sunday January 16, 2005

Two US defence contractors being sued over allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison have been awarded valuable new contracts by the Pentagon, despite demands that they should be barred from any new government work.
......................

The report on the Abu Ghraib scandal implicated three civilian contractors in the abuses: Steven Stefanowicz from CACI International and John Israel and Adel Nakhla from Titan.

Stefanowicz was charged with giving orders that 'equated to physical abuse', Israel of lying under oath and Naklha of raping an Iraqi boy. It was also alleged...

......................

Despite demands by human rights groups in the US that the two companies be barred from further contracts in Iraq - where CACI alone employed almost half of all interrogators and analysts at Abu Ghraib - CACI International has been awarded a $16 million renewal of its contract. Titan, meanwhile, has been awarded a new contract worth $164m.

.......................

...The Torture Papers: The Legal Road to Abu Ghraib by Cambridge University Press...

Compiled from material already in the public domain and other material acquired under the US Freedom of Information Act, it documents the chilling progress in the Bush administration's legal advice that allowed it to redefine the meaning of torture so much that it felt able to use interrogation techniques that amounted to the most serious physical abuse." MORE...

American News | Aberdeen: Local draft board members needed

American News | 01/12/2005 | Aberdeen: Local board members needed:

"The Selective Service System is looking for men and women to serve as members of local boards that are currently in a standby mode."

MSNBC - Iraq a new terror breeding ground

MSNBC - Iraq a new terror breeding ground:
Jan. 13, 2005

Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank.
................................

"The report also says the emergence of China and India as new global economic powerhouses 'will be the most challenging of all' Washington's regional relationships. It also says that in the competition with Asia over technological advances, the United States 'may lose its edge' in some sectors." MORE...

REUTERS - ABU GHRAIB SOLDIER TESTIFIES

Yahoo! News - Abu Ghraib Guard's Lover 'Mocked' Prisoners:

"In the strongest defense testimony so far, Megan Ambuhl told the court-martial of Spc. Charles Graner, portrayed as the leader in the 2003 prisoner abuse scandal, that interrogators would tell the guards what to do with detainees.
................................

'They would come down with their detainees and let us know what they wanted us to do with them,' Ambuhl said, referring to military interrogators. 'They might say this guy is cooperating, not cooperating.'

In one instance, she said an intelligence interrogator asked her to watch a male detainee shower. 'They wanted me to go in the shower and point at the genital area and laugh at them,' she said.

Another time, a civilian interrogator ordered her to deal with a detainee called 'al Qaeda' because he was a suspected member of the network, said Ambuhl, who was present when a naked Iraqi prisoner was leashed and photographed.

The interrogator 'told us we were doing a good job and that breaking al Qaeda (the prisoner) would have a global impact and save a lot of lives,' she said.

CONFUSED COMMAND STRUCTURE

Ambuhl, testifying on the fifth day of the trial, said she had heard two military intelligence officers ask Graner and Pvt. Ivan Frederick, who is serving an eight-year sentence in the case, to rough up a detainee.

Witnesses have described a confused command structure at Abu Ghraib in which military police ran the prison, interacting with civilian and military interrogators and other U.S. intelligence agencies."

Boston.com - Soldier pleads guilty to failing in duty at Abu Ghraib

Boston.com / News / World / Middle East / Soldier pleads guilty to failing in duty at Abu Ghraib:

...Ambuhl was sentenced to a reduction in rank from specialist to private and was ordered to forfeit half a month's pay...

"Ambuhl was praised by several detainees for treating them well, and in at least one instance she aided a detainee who was having trouble breathing after being punched in the chest by another soldier, the documents showed.

Volzer said Ambuhl's punishment is appropriate because of her limited involvement, but he said he is dismayed by the lack of accountability by higher-ranking officials who he says condoned the abuse.

''My position is that . . . the people who gave the orders should also be punished,' Volzer said. ''Since the orders came down from the White House, someone has to bear responsibility for it.'" MORE...

Documents Point Finger at White House for Torture - Sydney Morning Herald

The price of pain - After Saddam - www.smh.com.au:

"Declassified FBI and military documents point the finger at the White House for allowing the torture of suspected terrorists."
......................

"It is now reasonably clear that there was action by the President," the American Bar Association's Scott Horton told the Herald. "I have now seen several further documents which persuade me that there is in fact a determination by the President that dates from roughly April 2002.
...................................

(Attorney General Nominee) Gonzales did admit that at the time he asked the Department of Justice for a legal opinion on the US laws on torture which had come into effect after the US ratified the International Convention against Torture.

Gonzales directed his request to a Bush appointee, Jay Bybee, who was then head of the Office of Legal Counsel. Bybee was already on record advising the White House that Bush had sweeping powers as commander-in-chief to fight the war on terrorism...

He stated that the statutes on torture should only be read as covering what he called extreme acts. "Where pain is physical," he wrote, "it must be of an intensity akin to that which accompanies serious physical injury such as death or organ failure." ... "There is a significant range of acts that though they might constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment fail to rise to the level of torture."
......................

...the US Bill of Rights and the Constitution includes a prohibition on "the use of cruel or unusual punishment"

MORE...

President's Remarks at the United Nations General Assembly

President's Remarks at the United Nations General Assembly:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020912-1.html

"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."

Vice President Speaks at VFW 103rd National Convention

Vice President Speaks at VFW 103rd National Convention:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020826.html

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

Search for WMD In Iraq Failed (washingtonpost.com)

Search for Banned Arms In Iraq Ended Last Month (washingtonpost.com):

The hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq has come to an end nearly two years after President Bush ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein.
.............................

"Congress allotted hundreds of millions of dollars for the weapons hunt, and there has been no public accounting of the money. A spokesman for the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said the entire budget and the expenditures would remain classified." MORE...

FT.com - US ignored warning on Iraqi oil smuggling, UN says

FT.com / News in depth / Iraq - US ignored warning on Iraqi oil smuggling, UN says:

"Last week Paul Volcker, head of the independent commission created by the UN to investigate failures in the oil-for-food programme, confirmed that Washington allowed violations of the oil sanctions by Jordan in recognition of its national interests."

The New York Times > White House Fought New Curbs on Interrogations, Officials Say

The New York Times > Washington > White House Fought New Curbs on Interrogations, Officials Say:

"The Senate had approved the new restrictions, by a 96-to-2 vote, as part of the intelligence reform legislation. They would have explicitly extended to intelligence officers a prohibition against torture or inhumane treatment, and would have required the C.I.A. as well as the Pentagon to report to Congress about the methods they were using.

But in intense closed-door negotiations, Congressional officials said, four senior members from the House and Senate deleted the restrictions from the final bill after the White House expressed opposition.

In a letter to members of Congress, sent in October and made available by the White House on Wednesday in response to inquiries, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, expressed opposition to the measure on the grounds that it 'provides legal protections to foreign prisoners to which they are not now entitled under applicable law and policy.'"

Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee calls for limits to VA care

Buyer calls for limits to VA care:

"Rep. Steve Buyer suggested today that federal budget constraints do not always allow every former service member to have full access to Veterans Affairs medical benefits and the government instead should focus on first serving its disabled and indigent 'core constituency.'

Buyer, installed by House Republican leaders last week as chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, also criticized veterans advocates whom he did not identify for engaging in partisan politics and promoting a national health care system for veterans."

Rutland Herald - Limbaugh dumped for liberal show

Rutland Herald:

"Limbaugh dumped for liberal show

January 12, 2005

WKVT-AM 1490 in Brattleboro will replace four of its weekday syndicated conservative talk shows on Jan. 17 with programs from the fledgling liberal radio network Air America, which launched in March.
...................

Air America Radio launched in March, and despite a rocky start marked by fired executives and bounced checks, the network has expanded to more than 40 markets across the country. It is also available on two satellite radio networks and over the Internet." MORE...

washingtonpost.com: U.S. Tells D.C. to Pay Inaugural Expenses

washingtonpost.com: U.S. Tells D.C. to Pay Inaugural Expenses:

"D.C. officials said yesterday that the Bush administration is refusing to reimburse the District for most of the costs associated with next week's inauguration, breaking with precedent and forcing the city to divert $11.9 million from homeland security projects."

BostonHerald.com - Congress passes `doomsday' plan

BostonHerald.com - National Politics: Congress passes `doomsday' plan:

"With no fanfare, the U.S. House has passed a controversial doomsday provision that would allow a handful of lawmakers to run Congress..."

..........................

"Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), one of few lawmakers active on the issue, argued the rule change contradicts the U.S. Constitution, which states that ``a majority of each (House) shall constitute a quorum to do business.

``Changing what constitutes a quorum in this way would allow less than a dozen lawmakers to declare war on another nation,'' Baird said."

MORE...

Yahoo! News - Iraqi Victim Says U.S. Torture Worse That Saddam

Yahoo! News - Iraqi Victim Says U.S. Torture Worse That Saddam:

"A former inmate at Iraq (news - web sites)'s Abu Ghraib prison forced by U.S. guards to masturbate in public and piled onto a pyramid of naked men said on Tuesday even Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) did not do such things."
................................

"Since the scandal erupted last year, the Bush administration has blamed it on a small group of soldiers.

But investigations have shown many prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan (news - web sites) and at the U.S. Navy (news - web sites) base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba also suffered abusive treatment after the government looked at ways to obtain more information in its war against terrorism."

MORE...

Prisoner Abuse: Patterns from the Past

Prisoner Abuse: Patterns from the Past: "PRISONER ABUSE: PATTERNS FROM THE PAST

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 122

Cold War U.S. Interrogation Manuals Counseled 'Coercive Techniques'
Cheney Informed of 'Objectionable' Interrogation Guides in 1992
'Inconsistent with U.S. Government Policy'
National Security Archive Posts CIA Training Manuals from 60s, 80s, and
Investigative memos on earlier controversy on human rights abuses"

Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners - Academic Info

Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners - Academic Info:

"Iraq War - Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners - Directory of Online Resources"

Let Bin Laden stay free, says CIA man

Times Online - Sunday Times:

"Several US officials have privately admitted that it may be better to keep Bin Laden pinned down on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan rather than make him a martyr or put him on trial. But Krongard is the most senior figure to acknowledge publicly that his capture might prove counter-productive."

Yahoo! News - Odd Couple Gibson, Moore Exchange Praise

Yahoo! News - Odd Couple Gibson, Moore Exchange Praise:

"'Fahrenheit 9/11' was named favorite movie and 'The Passion of the Christ' was the favorite drama.

'I feel a kind of strange kinship with Michael,' Gibson said. I mean, they're trying to pit us against each other in the press, but this is all just a hologram, you know. They've really got nothing to do with one another. They were used as some kind of divisive left-right thing.'

Moore said he saw Gibson's film twice, and even took his father to see it.

'I thought it was a powerful piece of filmmaking,' Moore told AP Radio Sunday. 'I'm a practicing Catholic, and you know I think Mel and I may be from different wings of the Catholic Church. My film might have been called 'The Compassion of the Christ.''"

MSNBC - ‘The Salvador Option’ The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq

MSNBC - ‘The Salvador Option’:

"Jan. 8 - What to do about the deepening quagmire of Iraq? The Pentagon’s latest approach is being called 'the Salvador option'...

Now, NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported 'nationalist' forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success—despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. (Among the current administration officials who dealt with Central America back then is John Negroponte, who is today the U.S. ambassador to Iraq...)"

Bloomberg.com: Republican Leader Frist Says U.S. Forces Stretched Thin in Iraq

Bloomberg.com: U.S.:

"Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist said the U.S. military is struggling to keep up the fight against insurgents who want to disrupt the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq for a new national assembly.

Frist, appearing on NBC's ``Meet the Press,'' ...

``We are straining our Guard and reservist personnel,'' Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said of the part-time force that makes up 40 percent of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq."

MORE...

GONZALES MEMO ON TORTURE

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4999148/site/newsweek

GONZALES MEMO ON TORTURE .pdf

washingtonpost.com: Bush Administration Documents on Interrogation

washingtonpost.com: Bush Administration Documents on Interrogation:

"The following is a summary of White House, Pentagon and Justice Department documents about interrogation policies. The documents were released by the Bush administration on June 22. Some files are presented as PDF files, which require the Adobe Acrobat Reader, and may require high-speed Internet connections to download."

GO TO PAGE TO DOWNLOAD DOCS

Columbia Professor on Hitler and Religion

The New York Times > New York Region > Public Lives: Warning From a Student of Democracy's Collapse:

"FRITZ STERN, a refugee from Hitler's Germany and a leading scholar of European history, startled several of his listeners when he warned in a speech about the danger posed in this country by the rise of the Christian right. In his address in November, just after he received a prize presented by the German foreign minister, he told his audience that Hitler saw himself as 'the instrument of providence' and fused his 'racial dogma with a Germanic Christianity.'

"Some people recognized the moral perils of mixing religion and politics," he said of prewar Germany, "but many more were seduced by it. It was the pseudo-religious transfiguration of politics that largely ensured his success, notably in Protestant areas.""

MORE...

............

Editors Note -

Quote: "Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith . . . we need believing people."

- Adolph Hitler, April 26, 1933, from a speech made during negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordat of 1933

MSNBC - Crumbling at the seams in Iraq

MSNBC - Crumbling at the seams in Iraq:

"The driver explained that he lived in Mahmoudiya, but came every day to Baghdad to work the cab, which he used for his 'real job.'

'And what's that?'

'I specialize in killing women,' he said.

The atmosphere in the car turned stifling and tense, as if an inconsonant note had been played on an unseen piano.

'I kill whores, women who go to the Green Zone and have sex with the Americans,' the driver added as a justification."...

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"On election day Iraqis will select 275 members of parliament, who will then have the duty of writing a permanent constitution, answering fundamental and volatile questions including the role of Islam in the state and, critically, the power of the central government over the regional provinces — the equivalent in American history to the framers debate about states’ rights vs. national supremacy.

Once the constitution is written and ratified in a national referendum, new elections are scheduled to be held at the end of 2005 based on the document."

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KRT Wire | 01/07/2005 | Defense lawyer blames Army superiors for abuses at Abu Ghraib

KRT Wire | 01/07/2005 | Defense lawyer blames Army superiors for abuses at Abu Ghraib: "Graner's attorney, Guy Womack, reiterated that his defense will center on 'obedience to orders' from officers who he said made it clear to soldiers working in the prison that they were to 'soften up' detainees so they would provide better intelligence about the number and sophistication of attacks against U.S. troops in fall 2003.

None of the orders was illegal, Womack said. And even if they were, Graner didn't know they were.

'If Specialist Graner did not know they were unlawful ... that's an absolute defense on all these charges,' said Womack, a Houston lawyer and retired Marine Corps officer."

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If the government believes crimes were committed at Abu Ghraib, Womack said he wanted to know why the Army hasn't prosecuted any officers. Womack said he wanted to question several senior commanders in Iraq, but some have exercised their constitutional rights not to testify, and others, such as Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, are not required to testify.

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Telegraph | News | Christians flee genocide as fear sweeps Iraq

Telegraph | News | Christians flee genocide as fear sweeps Iraq: "Christians flee genocide as fear sweeps Iraq
By Jack Fairweather at St Matthew's Monastery near Mosul
(Filed: 08/01/2005)

One of the most ancient monasteries in the world, St Matthew's, stands on a barren mountainside in northern Iraq, its last inhabitant a crusty old Syrian Orthodox priest. Nestled between sandstone crags with views of the hills around ancient Nineveh, now called Mosul, it looks like the final redoubt of the Christian world.

Seven thousand monks used to worship here; now there is just one, Father Ada Qadr al-Kars.

This thinning of the ranks has taken centuries, he said, but in the valleys Iraq's Christian community, targeted with especial ferocity by Islamic extremists for the past year, is disappearing rapidly.

Churches have been bombed, priests kidnapped and Christian neighbourhoods subjected to random shootings, the terrorists' revenge for the community's shared religion with the 'Christian' invaders.

According to Church leaders, some 300,000 Christians - roughly a quarter of the population - have fled their homes since the US-led invasion."

...US forces rarely intervene, not wanting to be seen to be siding with Christians and thereby exposing the troops to more violence.

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Attorney General Nominee Unsure if Torture is Legal

	Gonzales speaks
	The New York Times Saturday, Jan 8, 2005

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/07/opinion/edgonzales.html

It was nice to hear Alberto Gonzales tell the Senate Judiciary Committee in his opening statement Thursday that he doesn't approve of torture and that as attorney general, he'll uphold the law. But things went rapidly downhill after that. By the time the hearing ended, Gonzales, now the White House counsel, had turned it into one of those depressing exercises in avoiding straight answers and evading accountability. The spectacle brought to mind the hearings last spring when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his team dutifully denounced the horrors of Abu Ghraib and then refused to accept any responsibility.

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Gonzales said the Abu Ghraib photos "sickened and outraged" him.

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But he would not acknowledge that he or any other senior administration official was to blame, even though he was a central figure in the policy decisions that laid the groundwork for the abuse at Abu Ghraib and other U.S. military prisons.

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In broad terms, Gonzales offered the politically necessary repudiation of the Justice Department memo that said President George W. Bush could authorize Americans to torture prisoners with impunity and that redefined torture to exclude almost any brutality.

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But it took a half-dozen questions by almost as many senators to get Gonzales to say declaratively that he now rejects that specific view, which the administration allowed to stand for nearly two years, until it was disclosed by news accounts. And then he equivocated astonishingly when asked whether U.S. soldiers or intelligence agents could "legally engage in torture under any circumstances."

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"I don't believe so, but I'd want to get back to you on that and make sure I don't provide a misleading answer," said Gonzales, who went through many hours of preparation for these very questions.

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Guardian Unlimited | US doctors accused over Guantánamo abuse

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | US doctors accused over Guantánamo abuse:

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Friday January 7, 2005
The Guardian

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An article in the New England Journal of Medicine provides the most authoritative account so far that doctors were active participants in the abuse of prisoners in America's 'war on terror'.

'Clearly, the medical personnel who helped to develop and execute aggressive counter-resistance plans thereby breached the laws of war,' says the article, which is based on interviews with more than two dozen military personnel and recently released official documents. It adds: 'The conclusion that doctors participated in torture is premature, but there is probable cause for suspecting it.'

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The New York Times - Bush's Drug Videos Broke Law, Accountability Office Decides

The New York Times > National > Bush's Drug Videos Broke Law, Accountability Office Decides

By JOHN FILES

Published: January 7, 2005

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Thursday that the Bush administration violated federal law by producing and distributing television news segments about the effects of drug use among young people.

The accountability office said the videos 'constitute covert propaganda' because the government was not identified as the source of the materials, which were distributed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. They were broadcast by nearly 300 television stations and reached 22 million households, the office said.
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In May the office found that the Bush administration had violated the same law by producing television news segments that portrayed the new Medicare law as a boon to the elderly.

US Military Running Out of Bullets

DefenseNews.com - U.S. Seeks To Buy Ammunition from Taiwan: Report - 01/06/05 11:05: "U.S. Seeks To Buy Ammunition from Taiwan: Report
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, TAIPEI

The United States is planning to buy hundreds of millions of bullets from Taiwan in the first such deal as its supplies are running low after wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a report said Jan. 6.

An unnamed general quoted by the paper said it would be the first time for Washington, Taiwan’s leading arms supplier, to acquire arms from the island."

Boxer Leads Failed Electronic Voting Challenge

MercuryNews.com | 01/07/2005 | Boxer leads failed challenge:

"... Boxer said she was persuaded by a litany of complaints about Ohio's election, from 10-hour waits in some predominantly minority areas to an electronic voting machine glitch that produced more than 4,000 votes for Bush in a precinct with only about 600 registered voters."

Bush administration paid commentator to promote law

USATODAY.com - Education Dept. paid commentator to promote law:
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.
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The top Democrat on the House Education Committee, Rep. George Miller of California, called the contract 'a very questionable use of taxpayers' money' that is 'probably illegal.' He said he will ask his Republican counterpart to join him in requesting an investigation.
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The contract may be illegal 'because Congress has prohibited propaganda,' or any sort of lobbying for programs funded by the government, said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 'And it's propaganda.'

General warns Pentagon of 'broken' reserve forces

FT.com / World / Asia-Pacific - General warns Pentagon of 'broken' reserve forces:
By Peter Spiegel, Defence Correspondent
January 7 2005 02:00

The US general who commands the army's reserve forces has warned the Pentagon that his units are now unable to meet their mission requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan and are 'rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force'.

In a bluntly worded memo to the army's chief of staff on December 20, first disclosed this week by the Baltimore Sun newspaper, Lt Gen James Helmly said Pentagon policies governing the deployment of reservists were 'dysfunctional' and were 'eroding daily' his ability to create an effective force."

Guide to Torture Memos

A Guide to the Memos on Torture
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

(To see the actual memos, follow the links here from the article here - http://www.nytimes.com/ref/international/24MEMO-GUIDE.html?oref=login&oref=login )

2002

JANUARY A series of memorandums from the Justice Department... provided arguments to keep United States officials from being charged with war crimes for the way prisoners were detained and interrogated.

The memorandums... provided legal arguments to support administration officials' assertions that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to detainees from the war in Afghanistan.

JAN. 25 Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, in a memorandum to President Bush, said that the Justice Department's advice in the Jan. 9 memorandum was sound and that Mr. Bush should declare the Taliban and Al Qaeda outside the coverage of the Geneva Conventions.

That would keep American officials from being exposed to the federal War Crimes Act, a 1996 law that carries the death penalty.

JAN. 26 In a memorandum to the White House, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said the advantages of applying the Geneva Conventions far outweighed their rejection.

FEB. 2 A memo... warned that the broad rejection of the Geneva Conventions posed several problems.

"A decision that the conventions do not apply to the conflict in Afghanistan in which our armed forces are engaged deprives our troops there of any claim to the protection of the conventions in the event they are captured." ...

The attachment noted that C.I.A. lawyers asked for an explicit understanding that the administration's public pledge to abide by the spirit of the conventions did not apply to its operatives.

AUGUST A memorandum from Jay S. Bybee, with the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department, provided a rationale for using torture to extract information from Qaeda operatives.

It provided complex definitions of torture that seemed devised to allow interrogators to evade being charged with that offense.

2003

MARCH A memorandum prepared by a Defense Department legal task force drew on the January and August memorandums to declare that President Bush was not bound by either an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal anti-torture law because he had the authority as commander in chief to approve any technique needed to protect the nation's security.

The memorandum also said that executive branch officials, including those in the military, could be immune from domestic and international prohibitions against torture for a variety of reasons, including a belief by interrogators that they were acting on orders from superiors "except where the conduct goes so far as to be patently unlawful.'

DEC. 24 The letter, a response to the Red Cross's concern about conditions at Abu Ghraib, contended that isolating some inmates at the prison for interrogation because of their significant intelligence value was a "military necessity," and said prisoners held as security risks could legally be treated differently from prisoners of war or ordinary criminals.

Other Memorandums

Some have been described in reports in The Times and elsewhere, but their exact contents have not been disclosed.

These include a memorandum that provided advice to interrogators to shield them from liability from the Convention Against Torture, an international treaty and the Anti-Torture Act, a federal law.

This memorandum provided what has been described as a script in which officials were advised that they could avoid responsibility if they were able to plausibly contend that the prisoner was in the custody of another government and that the United States officials were just getting the information from the other country's interrogation.

Neil A. Lewis contributed to this report. Online Document Sources: Findlaw.com and National Security Archive, George Washington University (gwu.edu)

550 Women and Children Found Dead in Fallujah

IRAQ: Death in Fallujah rising, doctors say
04 Jan 2005

Source: REUTERS http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/121b671d950efc3ac031b54b55118d85.htm


FALLUJAH, 4 January (IRIN) - "It was really distressing picking up dead bodies from destroyed homes, especially children. It is the most depressing situation I have ever been in since the war started," Dr Rafa'ah al-Iyssaue, director of the main hospital in Fallujah city, some 60 km west of Baghdad, told IRIN.

According to al-Iyssaue, the hospital emergency team has recovered more than 700 bodies from rubble where houses and shops once stood, adding that more than 550 were women and children. He said a very small number of men were found in these places and most were elderly.

Doctors at the hospital claim that many bodies had been found in a mutilated condition, some without legs or arms. Two babies were found at their homes, who are believed to have died from malnutrition, according to a specialist at the hospital.

Al-Iyssaue added these numbers were only from nine neighbourhoods...

He explained that many of the dead had been already buried... and those bodies had not been counted.

IRCS officials told IRIN they needed more time to give an accurate death toll, adding that the city was completely uninhabitable.

Iraqi insurgents outnumber U.S. forces - (United Press International):

Iraqi insurgents outnumber U.S. forces - (United Press International): "Iraqi insurgents outnumber U.S. forces

Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Iraq's director of intelligence says there are now more Arabic insurgents in Iraq than there are U.S.-led coalition soldiers, The Times of London said Tuesday.


'I think the resistance is bigger than the U.S. military in Iraq. I think the resistance is more than 200,000 people,' said Gen. Muhammad Abdullah Shahwani, director of Iraq's new intelligence services.

Shahwani said there were at least 40,000 hardcore fighters attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops, with the bulk made up of part-time guerrillas and volunteers providing logistical support, information, shelter and money.

'People are fed up after two years without improvement,' he said. 'People are fed up with no security, no electricity -- people feel they have to do something.'"

ABC News: White House Won't Release Gonzales Papers

ABC News: White House Won't Release Gonzales Papers

WASHINGTON Jan 6, 2005 — The White House refused Thursday to provide senators additional documents on attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales' role in the decision to allow aggressive interrogations of terrorism detainees.

END