Reflections on the "New American" Revolution
Monday, May 31, 2004
Interrogators hid identities: "' 'I'm Special Agent John Doe,' or 'I'm Special Agent in Charge James Bond.' "
Cheney Coordinated Halliburton Iraq Contract: Report: "A Pentagon e-mail said Vice President Dick Cheney coordinated a huge Halliburton government contract for Iraq, despite Cheney's denial of interest in the company "
Army Investigates Wider Iraq Offenses (washingtonpost.com): "Over the past year and a half, the Army has opened investigations into at least 91 cases of possible misconduct by U.S. soldiers against detainees and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, a total not previously reported and one that points to a broader range of wrongful behavior than defense officials have acknowledged.
... President Bush and other senior administration officials have sought to explain the abuses at Abu Ghraib as reflecting the aberrant behavior of a few low-ranking soldiers last fall, graphically exposed in photographs and an internal Army report that emerged a month ago. But the Army's list of investigations appears to bolster the contention of others, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, that misconduct by U.S. forces has been more extensive -- and its consequences more damaging -- than can be blamed on the troubled actions of a small group."
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Dooh Nibor Economics: "whatever they may say in public, administration officials know that sustaining Mr. Bush's tax cuts will require large cuts in popular government programs. And for the vast majority of Americans, the losses from these cuts will outweigh any gains from lower taxes.
It has long been clear that the Bush administration's claim that it can simultaneously pursue war, large tax cuts and a 'compassionate' agenda doesn't add up. Now we have direct confirmation that the White House is engaged in bait and switch, that it intends to pursue a not at all compassionate agenda after this year's election.
That agenda is to impose Dooh Nibor economics — Robin Hood in reverse. The end result of current policies will be a large-scale transfer of income from the middle class to the very affluent, in which about 80 percent of the population will lose and the bulk of the gains will go to people with incomes of more than $200,000 per year."
Bremer threatens to veto Iraqis' choice of president: "The sight of the Americans trying to bully the Governing Council into accepting their choice is threatening to destroy the interim government's credibility in the eyes of Iraqis. The US is already facing widespread accusations that the handover is cosmetic, and designed so that President Bush can claim the occupation is over ahead of the American presidential election in November."
An A-Z of the Iraq war and its aftermath, focusing on misrepresentation, manipulation, and mistakes: "B Bush and Blair: The two leaders have reacted strongly to all suggestions they misled their respective electorates over the war, and maintain time will prove they were right to go to war. Both, though, are suffering poll difficulties, as problems in Iraq become worse, and each needs speedy improvement to shore up his position."
Saudi horror sparks fears of oil crisis: "Oil analysts in London and Washington warned of severe repercussions. Economists called the attack their worst nightmare come true.
It could send oil prices above $42 a barrel, pushing the average price of petrol in Britain beyond the -4-a-gallon barrier. The rise would renew fears of a world energy crisis not seen since the early Seventies. Prices have already risen amid fears Saudi Arabia would be unable to defend its oil industry from terrorists.
Repeated attacks could push oil prices above the economically devastating $50 a barrel, City experts warn.
The attack came only days after a senior Saudi al-Qaeda leader, Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, unveiled a plan for an urban guerrilla war in the kingdom. Saudi security sources have admitted the destabilising influence of neighbouring Iraq, complaining of a steady traffic across the border in arms and other material to terrorist groups.
By yesterday al-Muqrin's orders had already been put into practice. Four gunmen in military style dress stormed the Oasis where employees of Shell and the giant US firms Honeywell and General Electric are understood to live. Two cars with military markings drove in and gunmen inside them opened fire indiscriminately at residents. Windows of homes were shot out. Soon afterwards, hundreds of police encircled the compound as helicopters hovered overhead. "
Never mind the truth: "President George Bush's speech to the nation last week, as he struggled to define the mission in Iraq. 'On June 30 the occupation will end and Iraqis will govern their own affairs,' he said. To understand what will happen at the end of the month it would make more sense to turn the sentence inside out so that it says the opposite: 'On June 30 the occupation will continue and Iraqis will not govern their own affairs.' "
Yahoo! News - Iraqis Decry U.S. Over President Choice: "Iraqi Governing Council members accused American officials Monday of pressuring them to accept Washington's choice for Iraq (news - web sites)'s new president, prompting a delay in the announcement of a new government to take power from the U.S.-led coalition June 30.
... Most council members favor civil engineer Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, 45, the current council president. The Americans are backing former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi, 81. Both are Sunni Muslims."
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Warren Buffett keeps out of the depreciating dollar: "In the 24-page letter, sent out on Saturday, the 73-year-old, returned to many of his favourite themes. He attacked the Bush administration's tax cuts and railed against greedy chief executives, corrupt mutual fund managers and ineffective independent directors. "
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | New York Times says it was duped by Pentagon 'cunning': "The New York Times donned sackcloth and ashes again yesterday when its ombudsman said the newspaper had been duped by 'the cunning campaign' of those that wanted the world to believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
Some stories, Daniel Okrent said, 'pushed Pentagon assertions so aggressively you could almost sense epaulets on the shoulders of editors'. The half-page critique of the newspaper's coverage during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq followed a separate admission signed by 'the editors' last week that said the newspaper had not been as 'rigorous as it should have been' in questioning Iraqi exiles.
Mr Okrent said that in the run-up to the invasion, 'cloaked government sources ... insinuated themselves and their agendas into prewar cov erage'. The newspaper's failure, he said, was institutional. 'To anyone who read the paper between September 2002 and June 2003, the impression that Saddam Hussein possessed, or was acquiring, a frightening arsenal of WMD seemed unmistakable.'
Mr Okrent said much of the inaccurate WMD coverage was 'inappropriately italicised by lavish front-page display and heavy-breathing headlines'. Other stories that had challenged the assertions or tried to put the claims into perspective 'were played as quietly as a lullaby'.
In one instance, a story by James Risen - 'CIA aides feel pressure in preparing Iraqi reports' - was completed several days before the invasion and 'unaccountably' held for week. The report finally appeared three days after the war broke out and was buried on page 10 of the newspaper's second section. "
Blair deadline for troops in Iraq: "Tony Blair yesterday set an 18-month deadline for pulling 'very substantial' numbers of troops out of Iraq, as he admitted the conflict was the major 'divisive' issue that had eroded public trust.
The prime minister said the security situation was worse than he had anticipated a year ago, and warned of an escalation in violence in the run-up to the June 30 handover. "
Yahoo! News - From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity: "the ferocious Bush assault on Kerry this spring has been extraordinary, both for the volume of attacks and for the liberties the president and his campaign have taken with the facts. Though stretching the truth is hardly new in a political campaign, they say the volume of negative charges is unprecedented -- both in speeches and in advertising.
Three-quarters of the ads aired by Bush's campaign have been attacks on Kerry. Bush so far has aired 49,050 negative ads in the top 100 markets, or 75 percent of his advertising. Kerry has run 13,336 negative ads -- or 27 percent of his total. The figures were compiled by The Washington Post using data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group of the top 100 U.S. markets. Both campaigns said the figures are accurate.
The assault on Kerry is multi-tiered: It involves television ads, news releases, Web sites and e-mail, and statements by Bush spokesmen and surrogates -- all coordinated to drive home the message that Kerry has equivocated and 'flip-flopped' on Iraq (news - web sites), support for the military, taxes, education and other matters."
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Exiled Allawi was Responsible for 45-Minute WMD Claim: "The choice of Iyad Allawi, closely linked to the CIA and formerly to MI6, as the Prime Minister of Iraq from 30 June will make it difficult for the US and Britain to persuade the rest of the world that he is capable of leading an independent government.
He is the person through whom the controversial claim was channeled that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could be operational in 45 minutes."
Intelligence Agents Encouraged Abuse: "Several U.S. guards allege they witnessed military intelligence operatives encouraging the abuse of Iraqi prison inmates at four prisons other than Abu Ghraib, investigative documents show.
Court transcripts and Army investigator interviews provide the broadest view of evidence that abuses, from forcing inmates to stand in hoods in 120-degree heat to punching them, occurred at a Marine detention camp and three Army prison sites in Iraq (news - web sites) besides Abu Ghraib. "
Friday, May 28, 2004
Ashcroft Assailed on Terror Warning (washingtonpost.com): "Some allies of the Department of Homeland Security within the Bush administration and members of Congress criticized Attorney General John D. Ashcroft yesterday for issuing terrorist threat warnings at a news conference on Wednesday, contending he failed to coordinate the information with the White House and with Homeland Security, which has the job of releasing threat warnings.
Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and Bush administration rules, only the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can publicly issue threat warnings, and they must be approved in a complex interagency process involving the White House. Administration officials sympathetic to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said he was not informed Ashcroft was going to characterize the threat in that way -- an assertion that Justice officials deny.
Earlier Wednesday, Ridge appeared on five news shows saying that although the prospect of a terrorist attack is significant, Americans should "go about living their lives and enjoying living in this country," as he said on CBS. "
GOP Delegate Opposes Bush Re-election (washingtonpost.com): "D.C. Council member David A. Catania said yesterday he has left the local Republican Party organization after its chairman stripped him of his delegate seat at the national convention because he opposes President Bush's reelection.
Catania, a lifelong member of the GOP and openly gay political activist, raised more than $50,000 for the Bush campaign in the past year but became a vocal critic after Bush called for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage."
Catch-22 Revisited: "'The nature of reserve [army] service as a purely one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer, training group of soldiers that never gets mobilized over a 20-30 year period is over,' says Lt Gen James Helmly, its commander. 'That is not the world we live in.' The army reserve, he adds, should be seen as a good business deal: 'The cost for 100 active duty soldiers to maintain readiness for a year is approximately seven times greater than that of 100 army reserve soldiers.'
Cheap they may be. But this motley collection of part-timers have now sparked the worst US military scandal since Vietnam. It is they who are accused of being the true face of the force which President Bush claims is bringing freedom to Iraq. "
A Speech That's No Joke: "The war in Iraq, said Mr. Gore, in an interview on Wednesday, 'is the worst strategic fiasco in the history of the United States. It is an unfolding catastrophe without any comparison.'
In an echo of the growing chorus of criticism here and around the world, he said the war has not only damaged 'our strategic interests' and isolated the U.S. from its allies, it has also made the country more - not less - vulnerable to terror.
In a widely covered speech earlier in the day, Mr. Gore said that Iraq had not become, as President Bush has asserted, ' `the central front in the war on terror.' ' But he said it has become, unfortunately, 'the central recruiting office for terrorists.'
The speech was extraordinary � blunt, colorful and delivered with the kind of passion you seldom see in politics anymore. The former vice president described Mr. Bush as incompetent and untrustworthy, and said his policies had endangered the nation.
The president, said Mr. Gore, had 'planted the seeds of war, and harvested a whirlwind.'
... the essential problem has been the triumph in the Bush crowd of ideology over reality. The true believers knew everything better than everybody else, and the arrogance born of that certainty led, step by tragic step, to the war with no exit doors that we are locked in today."
Bush Promised Us Humility; Brought Us Humiliation: "He promised to 'restore honor and integrity to the White House.' Instead, he has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest President since Richard Nixon.
Honor? He decided not to honor the Geneva Convention. Just as he would not honor the United Nations, international treaties, the opinions of our allies, the role of Congress and the courts, or what Jefferson described as 'a decent respect for the opinion of mankind.' He did not honor the advice, experience and judgment of our military leaders in designing his invasion of Iraq. And now he will not honor our fallen dead by attending any funerals or even by permitting photos of their flag-draped coffins.
How did we get from September 12th , 2001, when a leading French newspaper ran a giant headline with the words 'We Are All Americans Now' and when we had the good will and empathy of all the world -- to the horror that we all felt in witnessing the pictures of torture in Abu Ghraib. "
The Bush Orthodoxy is in Shreds: "The CIA and other US agencies had long ago decided that Chalabi was a charlatan, so their dismissive and correct analysis of his lies prompted their suppression by the Bush White House.
In place of the normal channels of intelligence vetting, a jerry-rigged system was hastily constructed, running from the office of the vice president to the newly created Office of Special Plans inside the Pentagon, staffed by fervent neocons. CIA director George Tenet, possessed with the survival instinct of the inveterate staffer, ceased protecting the sanctity of his agency and cast in his lot. Secretary of state Colin Powell, resistant internally but overcome, decided to become the most ardent champion, unveiling a series of neatly manufactured lies before the UN.
Last week, Powell declared 'it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and, in some cases, deliberately misleading. And for that I'm disappointed, and I regret it'. But who had 'deliberately' misled him? He did not say. Now the FBI is investigating espionage, fraud and, by implication, treason.
A former staff member of the Office of Special Plans and a currently serving Defense official, two of those said to be questioned by the FBI, are considered witnesses, at least for now. Higher figures are under suspicion. Were they witting or unwitting? If those who are being questioned turn out to be misleading, they can be charged ultimately with perjury and obstruction of justice. For them, the Watergate principle applies: it's not the crime, it's the cover-up. "
Kerry Outlines Foreign Policy, Attacking Bush: "Bush, by making military pre-emption the central doctrine of a new American foreign policy and employing it too quickly in Iraq, had ignored Theodore Roosevelt's warning that if a man 'lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble.'"
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: To Tell the Truth: "why did the press credit Mr. Bush with virtues that reporters knew he didn't possess? One answer is misplaced patriotism. After 9/11 much of the press seemed to reach a collective decision that it was necessary, in the interests of national unity, to suppress criticism of the commander in chief."
Misplaced patriotism? This is an important point, but it doesn't go far enough.
The problem is misplaced love. The right wing zealots who claim to be the only people who love their country, use their love for partisan ends. In other words, they love something other than their country: an ideal. Their country is made up of people whom they would love, if they really loved their country. But they don't. They hate the liberals and left. They hate at least 50%. So what kind of love is that. It's not love. It's not patriotism. It is sectarian, it is partisan.
The great saint and theologian Thomas Aquinas said that misplaced love is evil. Curious how those who are so quick to label others as 'evil-doers' could be accused of such a misplaced love themselves!
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Bush Speech: Take Two: "I have today asked for and received the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of Defense. His successor will be chosen in consultation with the leadership of both parties in Congress, in the interests of establishing consensus for our remaining tasks in Iraq.
I will tomorrow ask the United Nations to establish a transitional trusteeship for Iraq, so that wide international commitment can be enlisted in bringing a new Iraq into being.
And I am announcing now that I will neither seek nor accept my party's nomination for a second term as your president. "
Watchdog Group Report: Most NPR Sources are Conservative: "'Republicans not only had a substantial partisan edge,' according to a report accompanying the survey, 'individual Republicans were NPR's most popular sources overall, taking the top seven spots in frequency of appearance.' In addition, representatives of right-of-center think tanks outnumbered their leftist counterparts by more than four to one, FAIR reported. "
As a listener, I agree. I have found this disturbing orientation unreported in the past. NPR needs to change dramatically to provide balanced coverage.
Pro-War Think Tank Warns: Far Worse May Follow: "The United States occupation forces are under threat from Iraqis themselves, not primarily from al-Qaeda, the report says.
... Beyond Iraq, the situation in the country is a problem for the future of the United States itself, the IISS report says.
”If the U.S. is seen to fail in Iraq, America's foreign policy will have to be rethought,” it says. ”The long-term instability of Iraq would act as a potent symbol, highlighting the limited power of the U.S. to intervene successfully against rogue states.” "
'The New York Times,' in Editors' Note, Finds Much to Fault in its Iraq WMD Coverage: "'Editors at several levels who should have been challenging reporters and pressing for more skepticism were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper. Accounts of Iraqi defectors were not always weighed against their strong desire to have Saddam Hussein ousted. Articles based on dire claims about Iraq tended to get prominent display, while follow-up articles that called the original ones into question were sometimes buried. In some cases, there was no follow-up at all.'
Yet nowhere does the Times suggest that it is penalizing any editors or reporters in any way.
One of the false Miller and Gordon stories (touting the now-famous 'aluminum tubes')did contain a few qualifiers, but they were 'buried deep.' When the pair followed up five days later they did report some misgivings by others, but these too 'appeared deep in the article.' When the Times finally gave 'full voice' to skeptics the challenge was reported on Page A 10, but 'it might well have belonged on Page A 1.'
Of course, the same could be said of their note today, which also falls on Page A 10.
Another Miller article, from April 21, 2003, that featured an Iraqi scientist (who later turned out to be an intelligence officer), seemed to go out of its way to provide what the Times calls 'the justification the Americans had been seeking for the invasion.' But in hindsight there was just one problem: 'The Times never followed up on the veracity of this source or the attempts to verify his claims.' "
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The NYT virtually ignored the voices of those few who dissented against the war. It belittled the protesters. It grossly under-reported their numbers. It is complicit in the railroading of America into the war in Iraq.
It is an ongoing disgrace, but if it actually investigates the claims of the administration now, instead of merely providing a mouthpiece for them, then they can redeem themselves.
U.S. War Policy 'Grave Error': "One of the ideological architects of the Iraq war has criticized the U.S.-led occupation of the country as 'a grave error.'
Richard Perle, until recently a powerful adviser to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, described U.S. policy in post-war Iraq as a failure.
'I would be the first to acknowledge we allowed the liberation (of Iraq) to subside into an occupation. And I think that was a grave error, and in some ways a continuing error,' said Perle, former chair of the influential Defense Policy Board, which advises the Pentagon.
With violent resistance to the U.S.-led occupation showing no signs of ending, Perle said the biggest mistake in post-war policy 'was the failure to turn Iraq back to the Iraqis more or less immediately."
2006 Cuts In Domestic Spending On Table (washingtonpost.com): "if President Bush is reelected, his budget for 2006 may include spending cuts for virtually all agencies in charge of domestic programs, including education, homeland security and others that the president backed in this campaign year. "
Some Seek Broad, External Inquiry on Prisoner Abuse (washingtonpost.com): "military lawyers, lawmakers and defense experts point to what they see as fundamental shortcomings: Most of the probes involve the Army investigating itself, they say, and each investigation is focused on only one aspect or another of the burgeoning scandal -- the role of military intelligence personnel who served as interrogators, for instance, or the adequacy of training of reservists or the need for revisions in Army training and doctrine.
No investigating authority has been given the specific task of assessing the roles of top authorities either in the U.S. Central Command or at the Pentagon. In past high-profile cases, including the 1991 Tailhook scandal, the 1996 bombing in Saudi Arabia of an Air Force barracks and the 2000 attack in Yemen on the USS Cole, inquiries conducted by the affected military branches were criticized by investigators from outside the services for focusing on lower ranks and neglecting to assess supervision up the chain of command.
"I really doubt whether the Defense Department can investigate itself, because there's a possibility the secretary himself authorized certain actions," said Wayne A. Downing, a retired four-star Army general who headed a Pentagon task force that examined the Air Force barracks case. "This cries out for an outside commission to investigate.""
Follow Torture Trail at Abu Ghraib: "it is clear the torture trail at Abu Ghraib has to run much further than a group of brutal U.S. military cops, all of whom claim 'intelligence officers' told them to 'soften up' their prisoners for questioning. Were they Israeli? Or South African? Or British? Are we going to let the story go? "
Bush Speech Alarms Even War Enthusiasts: "Even the staunchest supporters of President Bush's Iraq enterprise were less than cheered by his speech to the nation Monday night outlining the path forward, some describing the administration as being in a state of panic.
Wall Street Journal contributing editor Mark Helprin called Abu Ghraib "a symbol of the inescapable fact that the war has been run incompetently, with an apparently deliberate contempt for history, strategy, and thought." He asked why the administration was trying to occupy Iraq with current troop levels, "even as one event cascading into another should make them recoil in piggy-eyed wonder at the lameness of their policy."
Some of Bush's supporters concede the administration has committed blunders over the past year. Many suggest a sharp change in course -- such as adding thousands of troops, or moving up elections or forcefully quashing insurgents -- which they contend Bush did not promise Monday."
Gore Calls for Rumsfeld and Rice to Resign: "'The nation is especially at risk every single day that Rumsfeld remains as secretary of defense,' Mr. Gore declared.
The president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, should also quit immediately for badly mishandling the coordination of national security policy, Mr. Gore said.
Others on his list were George J. Tenet, the director of national intelligence, and Mr. Rumsfeld's deputies, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas J. Feith, and his intelligence chief, Stephen Cambone.
The Bush national security team is "endangering the lives of our soldiers, and sharply increasing the danger faced by American citizens everywhere in the world, including here at home," Mr. Gore insisted."
The New York Times > National > Intelligence Indicates Al Qaeda Planning Attack, Ashcroft Says: "Mr. Ashcroft, appearing with Director Robert S. Mueller III of the F.B.I., said the terrorist plans may be nearly complete, but acknowledged that officials do not have intelligence on where or when any attacks could occur.
Their news conference came a few hours after Tom Ridge, the director of homeland security, said there were no plans yet to raise the nation's terror alert level from yellow, the midpoint in the scale.
'There is absolutely nothing specific enough' that warrants a change in the alert level, Mr. Ridge said on NBC's 'Today.' "
Why is the Attorney General announcing terrorist threats when the Director of Homeland Security is not? Is it because he got rebuked by the Federal Appeals Court in SF, was it because the FBI arrested a man on spurious grounds--in other words, did he just want to change the news headlines?
Yes. Why do I say that? Because this warning is bogus! Its based on information that we've had for 2 months... there is no reason to suddenly "announce" it now, other than to make waves and divert attention. The man is spreading fear, however... which makes him an accomplice to terrorism--the very thing he is meant to be protecting the nation from. Sick, huh?
The F.B.I. crackdown yields injustice: "he Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation ought to hang their heads in shame over the mistaken arrest and jailing of a Muslim lawyer in Oregon who was supposed to be a material witness in the Madrid train bombing case. The arrest turned out to be based on a faulty fingerprint identification by F.B.I. 'experts.' That finding was ultimately retracted when more careful Spanish investigators concluded that the fingerprint had actually been left by a different man. Federal authorities apologized for the error and the unjustified jail time, but they still have a lot of explaining to do. The case smacks of a rush to judgment based on flimsy evidence.
...the Spanish authorities cast doubt on that judgment, but the Justice Department sought Mr. Mayfield's detention anyway, based on the F.B.I.'s insistence that it had identified the right man.
... The F.B.I. blames its error on an image of substandard quality sent by the Spanish police. But it is shocking that the F.B.I. would initially express certitude based on one partial print. ... the decision to lock up Mr. Mayfield was clearly influenced by his Muslim ties. It is sobering evidence that the current legal crackdown on suspected terrorists can yield injustice for those who are innocent."
Failed Mid-East Policy: "our Israel-Palestine policy... has become so unbalanced that it's now little more than an embrace of the right-wing jingoist whom Mr. Bush unforgettably labeled a 'man of peace': Ariel Sharon.
American presidents have always tried to be honest brokers in the Middle East. Truman, Johnson and Reagan were a bit more pro-Israeli, while Eisenhower, Carter and George H. W. Bush were a bit cooler, but all aimed for balance.
President Bush tossed all that out the window as he snuggled up to Mr. Sharon. Mr. Bush gazes admiringly as Mr. Sharon responds to terrorist attacks by sending troops to bulldoze Palestinian homes and shoot protesters, and he dropped President Clinton's intensive efforts to reach a peace deal. Prof. Michael Hudson of Georgetown University describes present Middle East policy as 'a bumbling incompetence, running here or there but doing nothing consistently.'
Our embrace of Mr. Sharon hobbles us in Iraq even more than those photos from Abu Ghraib. Iraqis (in contrast with, say, Kuwaitis) genuinely sympathize with the Palestinians, and everywhere I've been in Iraq ordinary people have asked me why Americans provide the weapons Mr. Sharon uses to kill Palestinians.
One lofty aim of the Iraq war was to achieve a Middle East peace. But as retired Gen. Anthony Zinni told the Center for Defense Information this month: 'I couldn't believe what I was hearing about the benefits of this strategic move - that the road to Jerusalem led through Baghdad, when just the opposite is true, the road to Baghdad led through Jerusalem. You solve the Middle East peace process, you'd be surprised what kinds of other things will work out.'"
US Prisoner abuse 'on wider scale': "Reports have claimed that torture had been sanctioned by high-ranking army and White House officials, who had taken a harder line on interrogation in the context of the 'war on terror'."
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The trail to Tehran: "The CIA may have thought that at least Chalabi was serving his two masters to the same end: opposition to the regime of Saddam Hussein. But an obscure episode in the hunt for Saddam's banned weapons during those years points to the Iranians' use of Chalabi in something far more serious: the manipulation of US foreign policy through the production of fake intelligence. It was an operation that may ultimately have helped bring about the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Early in the winter of 1994, Chalabi had a visitor from Baghdad named Khidir Hamza, who announced himself as a senior member of Saddam's nuclear weapons team with much to reveal about the ongoing bomb programme being pursued by the dictator under the noses of the UN inspection teams. Chalabi in turn handed him to one of the resident spooks, who contacted Langley to see if they were interested in sponsoring this defector. After quizzing Hamza over the shortwave radio, a CIA nuclear expert at headquarters concluded that Hamza had nothing to offer and declined to assist his passage to the US. "
If this is correct, then Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz--even Bush himself--are puppets of their great enemy, Iran! What stupid idiots.
washingtonpost.com: General Is Said To Have Urged Use of Dogs: "Pappas said, among other things, that interrogation plans involving the use of dogs, shackling, "making detainees strip down," or similar aggressive measures followed Sanchez's policy, but were often approved by Sanchez's deputy, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, or by Pappas himself.
... In a Feb. 11 written statement accompanying the transcript, Pappas shifted the responsibility elsewhere. He said 'policies and procedures established by the [Abu Ghraib] Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center relative to detainee operations were enacted as a specific result of a visit' by Miller, who in turn has acknowledged being dispatched to Baghdad by Undersecretary of Defense Stephen A. Cambone, after a conversation with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Cambone told lawmakers recently that he wanted Miller to go because he had done a good job organizing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and wanted him to help improve intelligence-gathering in Iraq.
Some senators, however, have noted that the Bush administration considers Guantanamo detainees exempt from the protections of the Geneva Conventions, and wondered if Miller brought the same aggressive interrogation ideas with him to Iraq, where the conventions apply.
When asked at a May 19 Senate hearing if he and his colleagues had 'briefed' military officers in Iraq about specific Guantanamo interrogation techniques that did not comply with the Geneva Conventions, Miller said no.
... Pappas said the result of Miller's visit was that "the interrogators and analysts developed a set of rules to guide interrogations" and assigned specific military police soldiers to help interrogators -- an approach Miller had honed in Guantanamo.
... Pappas added that it "would never be my intent that the dog be allowed to bite or in any way touch a detainee or anybody else." He said he recalled speaking to one dog handler and telling him "they could be used in interrogations" anytime according to terms spelled out in a Sept. 14, 2003, memo signed by Sanchez.
... One MP charged with abuses, Spec. Sabrina D. Harman, recalled for Army investigators an episode "when two dogs were brought into [cellblock] 1A to scare an inmate. He was naked against the wall, when they let the dogs corner him. They pulled them back enough, and the prisoner ran . . . straight across the floor. . . . The prisoner was cornered and the dog bit his leg. A couple seconds later, he started to move again, and the dog bit his other leg." "
A Call to Conscience: "The Diplomat who quit over Nixon's Invasion of Cambodia asks Americans on the front lines of Foreign Service to resign from the "Worst Regime by far in the History of the Republic".
... You know how recklessly a cabal of political appointees and ideological zealots, led by the exceptionally powerful and furtively doctrinaire Vice President Cheney, corrupted intelligence and usurped policy on Iraq and other issues. You know the bitter departmental disputes in which a deeply politicized, parochial Pentagon overpowered or simply ignored any opposition in the State Department or the CIA, rushing us to unilateral aggressive war in Iraq and chaotic, fateful occupations in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
You know well what a willfully uninformed and heedless president you serve in Bush, how chilling are the tales of his ignorance and sectarian fervor, lethal opposites of the erudition and open-mindedness you embody in the arts of diplomacy and intelligence. Some of you know how woefully his national security advisor fails her vital duty to manage some order among Washington's thrashing interests, and so to protect her president, and the country, from calamity. You know specifics. Many of you are aware, for instance, that the torture at Abu Ghraib was an issue up and down not only the Pentagon but also State, the CIA and the National Security Council staff for nearly a year before the scandalous photos finally leaked.
As you have seen in years of service, every presidency has its arrogance, infighting and blunders in foreign relations. As most of you recognize, too, the Bush administration is like no other. You serve the worst foreign policy regime by far in the history of the republic.
"
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Iraq to get veto on military action, says Blair: "'If there's a political decision as to whether you go into a place like Falluja in a particular way that has to be done with the consent of the Iraqi government and the final political control remains with the Iraqi government,' he said."
Bull!
Soldiers' Doubts Build as Duties Shift (washingtonpost.com): "'I just think it's a lost cause,' said Spec. Will Bromley, a gunner who sits inside the turret of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle and mans a 25mm cannon whose rounds can blast walls to pieces. 'This has become harder than we thought. Getting rid of Saddam Hussein, that's one thing. Getting Iraqis to do what we want is another. It's like we want to give them McDonald's and they might not want McDonald's. They have to want it or we can't give it to them.'
Sgt. Jerry Sapiens, a specialist in nuclear, biological and chemical warfare, suggested there was no end in sight. 'We're in the baby-sitting phase and my question is, how long can we baby-sit for the Iraqis? We want the Iraqis to change, to be like us, and to do this we will have to be here forever.'
'The enemy is not the same as before,' said Spec. Matthew Aissen, a medic. 'I fear that people who use religion as a power point are taking over the place. It's a power struggle. Our weak point is they think we are evil and we're not so popular, so we become part of the mess.' "
Rings true to me... more true than the generals and sec. of defence's spin.
What they've said on Iraq: "Then: ''The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons.'' -- Bush, Oct. 7, 2002
Now: ''Some prewar intelligence assessments by America and other nations about Iraq's weapons stockpiles have not been confirmed. We are determined to figure out why.'' -- Bush, Feb. 6, 2004
* * *
Then: ''The oil revenues of (Iraq) could bring between $50 (billion)and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years. . . . We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.'' -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, March 27, 2003
Now: ''Iraqi oil production has reached more than 2 million barrels per day, bringing revenues of nearly $6 billion so far this year, which is being used to help the people of Iraq.'' -- Bush, Monday"
Bush Speech: Was It Enough?: "the reviews weren't very good. Bush's delivery was largely lackluster and his pronunciation was off -- though his makeup was wizardly.
So was it enough?
... a new Washington Post-ABC News poll came out showing Bush's approval rating at an all-time low due to fears that the United States is bogged down and rising criticism of his handling of the prison abuse scandal."
Yahoo! News - Al-Qaeda boosted by Iraq war, warns think-tank: "The US-led war on Iraq (news - web sites), far from countering terrorism, has helped revitalise the Al-Qaeda terror network, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank warned.
The London-based body said in its annual Strategic Survey 2003/2004 that the deadly train bombings in Madrid in March, the worst terror strike in Europe for more than a decade, showed that Osama Bin Laden's terror network 'had fully reconstituted'.
It also predicted the Islamic group would step up its anti-Western attacks, possibly even resorting to weapons of mass destruction and targeting Americans, Europeans and Israelis while continuing to support insurgents opposing the US-led occupation of Iraq.
The IISS pointed to devastating blasts in Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in 2003 and 2004 as further evidence that anti-US sentiment had soared since the Iraq war.
'In counter-terrorism terms, the intervention has arguably focused the energies and resources of al-Qaeda and its followers while diluting those of the global counter-terrorism coalition that appeared so formidable following the Afghanistan (news - web sites) intervention in late 2001,' the report said. "
A Speech Meant to Rally Public Support Doesn't Answer Key Questions (washingtonpost.com): "Bush did not provide the midcourse correction that even some Republicans had called for in the face of increasingly macabre violence in recent weeks -- from the assassination of the president of Iraq's Governing Council and controversy over dozens killed by U.S. warplanes at a purported wedding party to the grisly beheading of an American civilian.
Nor did Bush try to answer some of the looming questions that have triggered growing skepticism and anxiety at home and abroad about the final U.S. costs, the final length of stay for U.S. troops, or what the terms will be for a final U.S. exit from Iraq. After promising 'concrete steps,' the White House basically repackaged stalled U.S. policy as a five-step plan. "
For Bush, a clear path in Iraq, but many pitfalls lie ahead: "Isolated attacks on U.S. forces a year ago have crescendoed into rocket firings on U.S. helicopters, bomb blasts against Iraqis working for the U.S. and suicide blasts targeting Iraqi leaders. Bush said they have made Iraq the central front in the war on terrorism. And he contended that the attacks were growing because the terrorists wanted to sabotage the handover to Iraqis.
They've driven United Nations (news - web sites) and other aid workers out of Iraq, slowed reconstruction to a near halt, forced American officials to hunker down in fortified zones and scared many Iraqis away from working with the U.S.
Though Bush divided the attackers into three groups - former members of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime, outside terrorists and illegal militias loyal to Shiite religious leaders - he offered little evidence to suggest that the U.S. finally understands the nature of the Iraqi insurgency and can defeat it.
Understanding just who the enemy is essential if Bush's new strategy is going to work. The number of attackers and the extent of their support among Iraqis angry about the U.S. occupation are unknown. This past weekend, insurgents melted away in the city of Karbala and U.S. officials say they don't know where they went."
For Bush, a clear path in Iraq, but many pitfalls lie ahead: "Isolated attacks on U.S. forces a year ago have crescendoed into rocket firings on U.S. helicopters, bomb blasts against Iraqis working for the U.S. and suicide blasts targeting Iraqi leaders. Bush said they have made Iraq the central front in the war on terrorism. And he contended that the attacks were growing because the terrorists wanted to sabotage the handover to Iraqis.
They've driven United Nations (news - web sites) and other aid workers out of Iraq, slowed reconstruction to a near halt, forced American officials to hunker down in fortified zones and scared many Iraqis away from working with the U.S.
Though Bush divided the attackers into three groups - former members of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime, outside terrorists and illegal militias loyal to Shiite religious leaders - he offered little evidence to suggest that the U.S. finally understands the nature of the Iraqi insurgency and can defeat it.
Understanding just who the enemy is essential if Bush's new strategy is going to work. The number of attackers and the extent of their support among Iraqis angry about the U.S. occupation are unknown. This past weekend, insurgents melted away in the city of Karbala and U.S. officials say they don't know where they went."
Sacred Shia Shrine Damaged in Fighting: "One of the most sacred shrines of Shia Islam suffered minor damage during clashes Tuesday between U.S. forces and militiamen that killed at least 13 Iraqis, some of them civilians.
... After the fighting in Najaf eased, people gathered at the Imam Ali shrine to look at the damage. The inner gate of the shrine, leading into the tomb of Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib, appeared to have been hit by a projectile. Debris was scattered on the ground. "
Sunday, May 23, 2004
'I will always hate you people': "The original US autopsy said he had died of a heart attack. It now appears he was suffocated during interrogation when a CIA officer put him in a sleeping bag and sat on him. "
This is completely unacceptable way for an American to behave. It doesn't matter if they are interrogating the devil. Sheer brutality in the name of America is disgusting, disgraceful and needs to be punished very severely. We are due a full and public investigation of all these acts of barbarism done in our name, with our tax money.
GOP Senator Rips Bush on Iraq, Terrorism: "Republican Sen. Richard G. Lugar on Saturday said the United States isn't doing enough to stave off terrorism and criticized President Bush for failing to offer solid plans for Iraq's future.
Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the nation must prevent terrorism from taking root around the world by 'repairing and building alliances,' increasing trade, supporting democracy, addressing regional conflicts and controlling weapons of mass destruction.
Unless the country commits itself to such measures, "we are likely to experience acts of catastrophic terrorism that would undermine our economy, damage our society and kill hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people," the Indiana senator said during an appearance at the Fletcher School at Tufts University."
Bush Has Appointed Over 100 Lobbyists as 'Regulators': "President Bush has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.
In a New York City ballroom days before Christmas, a powerful Bush administration lawyer made an unprecedented offer to drug companies, one likely to protect their profits and potentially hurt consumers.
Daniel E. Troy, lead counsel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, extended the government's help in torpedoing certain lawsuits. Among Troy's targets: claims that medications caused devastating and unexpected side effects.
Pitch us lawsuits that we might get involved in, Troy told several hundred pharmaceutical attorneys, some of them old friends and acquaintances from his previous role representing major U.S. pharmaceutical firms.
The offer by the FDA's top attorney, made Dec. 15 at the Plaza Hotel, took the agency responsible for food and drug safety into new territory.
'The FDA is now in the business of helping lawsuit defendants, specifically the pharmaceutical companies,' said James O'Reilly, University of Cincinnati law professor and author of a book on the history of the FDA. 'It's a dramatic change in what the FDA has done in the past.'"
Gen. Zinni: 'They've Screwed Up': "Zinni writes: 'In the lead up to the Iraq war and its later conduct, I saw at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence and irresponsibility, at worse, lying, incompetence and corruption.'
"I think there was dereliction in insufficient forces being put on the ground and fully understanding the military dimensions of the plan. I think there was dereliction in lack of planning," says Zinni. "The president is owed the finest strategic thinking. He is owed the finest operational planning. He is owed the finest tactical execution on the ground. ... He got the latter. He didn't get the first two.
Zinni says Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time - with the wrong strategy. "
News: "The senior US commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, was accused yesterday of witnessing prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, in a powerful new allegation suggesting senior officials knew what was going on in Saddam Hussein's old torture chambers and either condoned it or did nothing to stop it.
The claim, which the US military command in Baghdad has denied, stems from a military hearing in April, weeks before the scandal became public. A recording of the hearing obtained by The Washington Post, shows that a military lawyer for a soldier facing court martial for his role in the abuse said he could produce evidence that General Sanchez had been at Abu Ghraib's notorious Tier IA.
The lawyer, Captain Robert Shuck, said he had heard it from Captain Donald Reese, the commander of the 372nd Military Police Company, the unit most directly implicated in the sexual humiliation and violence inflicted on prisoners. Captain Reese was willing to testify under oath to that effect, Captain Shuck added.
'Are you saying that Captain Reese is going to testify that General Sanchez was there and saw this going on?' Captain Shuck is asked in the key section of the recording. 'That's what he told me,' Captain Shuck replies. 'I am an officer of the court, sir, and I would not lie. I'm not going to risk my career.'
The Washington Post was unable to get a direct response from General Sanchez before publishing its story. Yesterday, his office in Baghdad issued a statement saying the report was false. But a spokesman was unwilling to make the transcript of the 2 April hearing available.
In previous statements, notably before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, General Sanchez has insisted he had no knowledge of the abuses until January, two months after the International Committee of the Red Cross made a detailed report. After he saw the report, he said, he ordered an immediate investigation.
The Post report says Captain Shuck claimed he had evidence that the supervisor of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib, Captain Carolyn Wood, was "involved in intensive interrogations of detainees, condoned some activities and stressed that that was standard procedure"."
Leaked memo warns of 'heavy-handed' US: "British officials warned of 'heavy-handed' American tactics in Iraq and cautioned that revelations about the abuse of prisoners had 'sapped the moral authority' of the US-led coalition, according to a leaked report published yesterday.
Details of the internal Foreign Office memo emerged as Labour leaders were warned by campaign teams across the country that middle-class members in marginal seats were deserting the party in droves over the occupation of Iraq.
The memorandum, said to have been written last week and leaked to The Sunday Times, warned that 'heavy-handed US military tactics in Fallujah and Najaf some weeks ago have fuelled both Sunni and [Shia] opposition to the coalition and lost us much public support outside Iraq.'"
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Commander of coalition forces witnessed prisoner abuse, lawyer claims: "Defence lawyers for the military police guards who are accused of carrying out the worst of the torture at Abu Ghraib are seeking to portray their clients as lowly soldiers who carried out a policy of 'softening up' detainees for interrogation, approved by the top ranks of the US military. In testimony to the US Senate, the Pentagon's top generals denied all prior knowledge of the abuses, and said they insisted that their troops abide by the Geneva conventions.
However, a memorandum was leaked last week, signed by Gen Sanchez last October, instructing military intelligence to take over control of prisoners' conditions at Abu Ghraib with the aim of manipulating their 'emotions and weaknesses'.
It has also emerged that last November the International Committee of the Red Cross gave US commanders a detailed litany of complaints about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.
In reply, the US military argued that many Iraqi prisoners were not entitled to the protection of the Geneva conventions.
The letter, signed by the military police commander at Abu Ghraib, Brig Gen Janis Karpinski, but drafted by military lawyers, argued that prisoners held as security risks could legally be treated differently from prisoners of war or ordinary criminals.
It seems to contradict the insistence of senior US officials that all prisoners in Iraq, unlike"
Commander of coalition forces witnessed prisoner abuse, lawyer claims: "A military lawyer involved in the investigation into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal testified that the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, was present at some prisoner interrogations at the jail and witnessed some of the abuse, it was reported yesterday.
Gen Sanchez's staff denied the claims, which have fuelled charges that the torture of prisoners was condoned by high US military officials. "
What have we done?: "it now seems likely that the defining association of people everywhere with the rotten war that the Americans launched preemptively in Iraq last year will be photographs of the torture of Iraqi prisoners in the most infamous of Saddam Hussein's prisons, Abu Ghraib. "
Friday, May 21, 2004
Pentagon's Feith Again at Center of Disaster: "it was Feith's office that also housed the future undersecretary for intelligence, Stephen Cambone, who facilitated the transfer of Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller, the commander of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp that houses suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners, to Abu Ghraib prison in the interests of extracting more intelligence from detainees there about the fast-growing insurgency in Iraq.
Both Cambone and Miller, who brought high-pressure interrogation tactics barred by the Geneva Conventions with him from Guantanamo, are considered prime targets of ongoing congressional investigations into the prisoner abuse scandal.
But the announcement Tuesday by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner that he is seeking testimony in the coming weeks from Feith may have unwittingly cast new light on the reasons why Secretary of State Colin Powell is alleged by Woodward to have referred to Feith's operation as the ''Gestapo Office''.
Evidence of Feith's involvement in the prisoner abuse scandal rests primarily on reports that have appeared in 'Newsweek', the 'New York Times', and the 'Los Angeles Times'. They have reported that, even before the Iraq War, top officials in the Pentagon, acting on the advice of civilian lawyers, authorized a reinterpretation of the Geneva Conventions to permit tougher methods of interrogation of prisoners of war (POWs). "
The ugly face of power: "Every once in a while, ordinary voters get a chance to peek behind the curtain that hides the real face of power. Such a moment happened last weekend, during an interview with the secretary of state, Colin Powell, on America's most watched Sunday political talk show, Meet the Press...
The Soviet-style manner in which Republican operative Miller, who used to work for the majority leader, Tom "the Hammer" DeLay, tried to muzzle an interviewer once the questioning no longer pleased her betrayed an arrogance that goes to the core of this White House.
... Those in Bush's inner circle reconciled themselves to this suspension of morality long ago. They live in a bubble in which everything is permitted militarily and politically in the pursuit of total victory. Their approach to the Iraq campaign is the same as their approach to all things: ' We can do anything we want to win. We can do no wrong. We will brook no dissent. '
The last time the curtain went up to reveal power so ugly and unchecked was Watergate, when hours of Oval Office tape recordings showed the world the true nature of the Nixon administration.
Voters are not likely to experience anything quite as satisfying again. But occasionally, despite the best efforts of White House news managers - and sometimes because of them - the curtain momentarily blows open to give us all a glimpse of what is really going on."
Israel withdraws troops from several areas of devastated Rafah: "The Israeli army pulled out of several areas of Rafah amid an international outcry over the killings of more than 40 Palestinians there this week in a devastating military raid.
... The army spokesman said soldiers were still searching for tunnels believed to be used to smuggle weapons, but acknowledged that not one new tunnel had been discovered since the launch of the raid.
The troops left behind leaflets in the ravaged town -- where a total of 42 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli raid -- calling on the population to prevent 'terrorists' from operating in the area.
A total of 40 homes were completely destroyed in the Brazil, Janaina and Salam neighborhoods, and dozens of others were partially demolished, according to Palestinian security sources.
Fatima Abu Hamed, 75, sifted through the rubble of her home with a piece of chipboard, digging out some medical tablets and an identity card in order to obtain vital food aid from the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). "
State terrorism. That's what this is. And the US supports this as the Israeli's right "to defend themselves." Sorry. That's totally bogus. There is nothing about this that is about defence. This is an offensive tactic in every sense of the word. 42 people killed. How does that make Israel safer? How does that advance the cause of peace. God bless and heal the terror suffered by the women and children of that godforsaken refugee camp. God forgive the Israeli's. God help us all as our world descends deeper into lies, violence and hate.
Titan Worker Accused of Iraqi Prisoner Abuse-WSJ: "A U.S. official who reviewed the report told the Journal that the unnamed Titan employee admitted he helped hold down three detainees who were 'nude, handcuffed to each other and placed in sexual positions.'
... Titan spokesman Wil Williams has told the Journal and Reuters that the Army had not advised the company of any wrongdoing by its employees or asked for cooperation in the ongoing investigations into prisoner abuse."
How can it be possible with an abuse scandal of this magnitude, in which the Sec of Defense has taken responsibility, that no one from the pentagon has contacted the company? This shows that there is really no investigation going on into private contractors.
Memo Gave Intelligence Bigger Role (washingtonpost.com): "In a memo signed on Aug. 18, 2003, the Pentagon's Joint Staff -- acting on a request from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his top intelligence aide, Stephen A. Cambone -- ordered Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller to conduct an inspection there. Miller, who oversaw the interrogation efforts at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, finished his tour on Sept. 9 and left behind his own list of interrogation techniques."
Yahoo! News - U.S. Soldier Admits Disobeying Commander: "he saw Iraqi prisoners treated cruelly when he was put in charge of processing detainees last May at al-Assad, an Iraqi air base occupied by U.S. forces. "
Memo Gave Intelligence Bigger Role (washingtonpost.com): "Shortly before the physical abuses of Iraqis were photographed in Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad last year, the top U.S. military official in Iraq signed a classified memorandum explicitly calling for interrogators to assume control over the 'lighting, heating . . . food, clothing, and shelter' of those being questioned there.
The Oct. 12, 2003, memorandum signed by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez called for intelligence officials at the prison to work more closely with the military police guarding the detainees to "manipulate an internee's emotions and weaknesses."
... The backdrop for the policy was an event that occurred on May 1, 2003. President Bush landed that day on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off San Diego and declared that major combat operations were over. His declaration had direct but unpublicized consequences for those detained in Iraq, military officials say: It meant they were no longer to be treated as prisoners of war, but instead as civilians held by an occupying power. "
The images that shamed America These are too disgusting and shaming for words. Whoever is responsible for this must pay the price. And by that I am thinking the highest levels, not the lowest. Bush and Rumsfeld. You are responsible. You have disgusted the world. You are avoiding accountability but you must go. You have degraded the country you swore to protect and defend. You are a disgrace. God forgives you, i am sure, but i cannot.
Yahoo! News - Pentagon's Explanations Add to Confusion: "The Pentagon (news - web sites)'s explanations for some key events surrounding prisoner abuse in Iraq (news - web sites) are in conflict with other testimony or findings of Army investigators.
Such contradictions are adding to the confusion over who was ultimately responsible for the abuses that prompted criminal charges against seven American soldiers and an apology from President Bush (news - web sites).
Congress is demanding answers, but some conflicting testimony from top military and defense officials only has added to the uncertainty.
The examples abound:
_ The Pentagon's top spokesman said Defense Department intelligence chief Stephen Cambone was not involved in discussions of interrogation rules for Iraq. But only days earlier, Cambone testified he, in fact, helped push for those new rules.
_ The general in charge of all U.S. troops in Iraq contradicted the general in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison guards � and an Army investigative report - about who was in command at the lockup after mid-November.
"_ A top military lawyer contradicted a defense spokesman and an Army general about whether some interrogation techniques used at the terrorist prison in Guantanamo Bay violate the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners of war.
One area of conflict involves the role played by Cambone, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence.
Cambone testified that he urged Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, then the commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, to travel to Iraq last August and make recommendations on how to better interrogate prisoners. Cambone said he was involved in Pentagon discussions on how to press detainees for information without violating the Geneva Conventions.
'He (Miller) technically went over under Joint Staff auspices but with my encouragement, and that of other senior members of the department,' Cambone told the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites) last week. 'On his return, when he completed his report, I received a briefing on it and then asked for people to look at its subsequent progress and what had taken place.'
But Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Cambone and his deputy, Lt. Gen. William Boykin, were not involved in the Iraq interrogation issue.
'Undersecretary Cambone has no responsibility, nor has he had any responsibility in the past, for detainee or interrogation programs in Afghanistan, Iraq, or anywhere else in the world,' Di Rita said in a statement given to reporters Sunday.
Di Rita told The Associated Press that the Pentagon's top policy official, Douglas Feith, was the official primarily responsible for developing interrogation rules. "
Cover up! These people are responsible for humiliating this country and abusing the people they supposedly wanted to liberate. There is no honor in this administration. They don't deserve to be in office, represent this country or hold any power. Out!
Yet more photos of US brutality published: "The video begins with three soldiers huddled around a naked detainee, his thin frame backed against a wall. With a snap of his wrist, one of the soldiers slaps the man across his left cheek so hard that the prisoner's knees buckle. Another detainee, handcuffed and on his back, is dragged across the prison floor. ...
The new pictures and videos go beyond the photos previously released to the public in several ways, amplifying the overt violence against detainees and displaying a variety of abusive techniques previously unseen. They show a group of apparently cavalier soldiers assaulting prisoners, forcing detainees to masturbate, and standing over a naked prisoner while holding a shotgun. Some of the videos echo scenes in previously released still photographs - such as the stacking of naked detainees - but the video images render the incidents more vividly. "
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Nick Berg's father says George Bush is responsible: "Donald Rumsfeld said that he took responsibility for the sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners. How could he take that responsibility when there was no consequence? Nick took the consequences.
Even more than those murderers who took my son's life, I can't stand those who sit and make policies to end lives and break the lives of the still living.
"
One incident. Forty dead. Two stories. What really happened?: "A tiny bundle of blankets is unwrapped; inside is the body of a baby, its limbs smeared with dried blood. Then the mourners peel back the blanket further to reveal a second dead baby.
Another blanket is opened; inside are the bodies of a mother and child. The child, six or seven years old, is lying against his or her mother, as if seeking comfort. But the child has no head.
These are the images that American forces in Iraq had no answer to yesterday. They come from video footage of the burials of 41 men, women and children. The Iraqis say they died when American planes launched air strikes on a wedding party near the Syrian border on Wednesday.
US forces insist that the attack was on a safe house used by foreign fighters entering Iraq from Syria. They do not dispute that they killed about 40 people, but claim American forces were returning fire and the dead were all foreign fighters. For the video footage that shows dead women and children they have no explanation.
So potentially damaging is the video to the US occupation that American officials have demanded that the Dubai-based al-Arabiya television news network, which obtained the footage, give them the name of the cameraman who took it. Al-Arabiya has refused.
In the footage men weep and cling to the bodies of their loved ones before they are buried. There are dozens of bundles wrapped in flower-patterned blankets. Some of these images were shown on Western television news yesterday, but not the most disturbing: the bodies themselves.
'These were more than two dozen military-age males. Let's not be naive,' Major General James Mattis, commander of the US 1st Marine Division, said. But he had no explanation of where the dead women and children in the video came from. 'I have not seen the pictures but bad things happen in wars,' he said cryptically. 'I d"
George Bush never looked into Nick's eyes: "George Bush's ineffective leadership is a weapon of mass destruction, and it has allowed a chain reaction of events that led to the unlawful detention of my son which immersed him in a world of escalated violence."
'US soldiers started to shoot us, one by one': "'The bombing started at 3am,' she said yesterday from her bed in the emergency ward at Ramadi general hospital, 60 miles west of Baghdad. 'We went out of the house and the American soldiers started to shoot us. They were shooting low on the ground and targeting us one by one,' she said. She ran with her youngest child in her arms and her two young boys, Ali and Hamza, close behind. As she crossed the fields a shell exploded close to her, fracturing her legs and knocking her to the ground.
She lay there and a second round hit her on the right arm. By then her two boys lay dead. 'I left them because they were dead,' she said. One, she saw, had been decapitated by a shell.
'I fell into the mud and an American soldier came and kicked me. I pretended to be dead so he wouldn't kill me. My youngest child was alive next to me.'
Mrs Shibab's description, backed by other witnesses, of an attack on a sleeping village is at odds with the American claim that they came under fire while targeting a suspected foreign fighter safe house. "
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Bush Declines to Condemn Israeli Attack: "President Bush on Wednesday declined to condemn the deadly attack on Palestinian demonstrators by Israeli military forces, saying he wanted to get clarification of the incident from Israel. The State Department said later it was ``deeply troubled'' by the ``tragic loss of life.''
The president urged Palestinians and Israel for restraint, as the White House and U.S. ambassador asked Israel for an explanation for the attack, which killed at least 10 Palestinians, all children and teens. "
Cover-Up: Former Abu Ghraib Intel Staffer Says Army Concealed Involvement in Abuse Scandal: "Dozens of soldiers other than the seven military police reservists who have been charged - were involved in the abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and there is an effort under way in the Army to hide it, a key witness in the investigation told ABCNEWS.
'There's definitely a cover-up,' the witness, Sgt. Samuel Provance, said. 'People are either telling themselves or being told to be quiet.' "
Irish Times Article - Bush reaffirms backing for Israel as 'courageous' ally: "President George Bush said yesterday that violence in the Gaza Strip was 'troubling', while strongly reaffirming US support for Israel as an ally that shared a belief that God 'valued every life'."
Bush must be insane, to see the violence and say that they value every life. Clearly they only value Israeli lives.
US Doctrine of 'kill, kill and kill again' angers British officers: "Senior British officers are angry and despondent at what they see as a US doctrine in Iraq of 'kill, kill and kill again', and are determined that their troops should not be under direct American command, according to a report.
The simmering tension between the militaries of the two allies has been highlighted in the American magazine, Newsweek, which also describes how a British officer unsuccessfully urged his US counterparts to do the 'decent thing' and free the Iraqi inmates from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison."
United States facing historic defeat in Iraq: "Misguided from the start, the war in Iraq is spiralling out of control. Any legitimacy the occupying forces may ever have possessed has been destroyed, and there are signs that Iraqi insurgents are coming together to mount a movement of resistance that could render the country ungovernable. With even more damning images likely to find their way into the public realm in the near future, the United States is facing an historic defeat in Iraq - a blow to American power more damaging than it suffered in Vietnam, and far larger in its global implications.
The inescapable implication of currently available evidence is that the use of torture by US forces was not an aberration, but a practice sanctioned at the highest levels."
Violence Leaves Iraqis in Despair: "Iraqi political leaders expressed anger and despair Tuesday over the inability of U.S. authorities to stem the relentless violence gripping Iraq as they paid tribute to the slain president of the country's Governing Council.
The assassination of Izzedin Salim in a suicide car bombing Monday appeared to have crystallized months of frustration with the U.S.-led occupation across the Iraqi political spectrum. In interviews after Salim's funeral, his colleagues on the council said the violence had imperiled efforts to form an interim government and, by extension, the future stability of Iraq with just six weeks before the nominal end of the occupation.
'If something is not done about this security situation, there will be no transfer of power,' said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the council.
Othman, who is generally pro-American, described the assassination as only the most extreme example of the lawlessness that has grown in the year since President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was driven from power. 'Never in Iraq has it been like this -- never, even under Saddam,' he said. 'People are killed, kidnapped and assaulted; children are taken away; women are raped. Nobody is afraid of any punishment.' "
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
U.S. Faces Growing Fears of Failure (washingtonpost.com): "The Bush administration is struggling to counter growing sentiment -- among U.S. lawmakers, Iraqis and even some of its own officials -- that the occupation of Iraq is verging on failure, forcing a top Pentagon official yesterday to concede serious mistakes over the past year.
Under tough questioning from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, a leading administration advocate of the Iraq intervention, acknowledged miscalculating that Iraqis would tolerate a long occupation. A central flaw in planning, he added, was the premise that U.S. forces would be creating a peace, not fighting a war, after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. "
The New York Times > Washington > Officer Says Army Tried to Curb Red Cross Visits to Prison in Iraq: "Army officials in Iraq responded late last year to a Red Cross report of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison by trying to curtail the international agency's spot inspections of the prison, a senior Army officer who served in Iraq said Tuesday.
After the International Committee of the Red Cross observed abuses in one cellblock on two unannounced inspections in October and complained in writing on Nov. 6, the military responded that inspectors should make appointments before visiting the cellblock. That area was the site of the worst abuses.
... Until now, the Army had described its response on Dec. 24 as evidence that the military was prompt in addressing Red Cross complaints, but it has declined to release the contents of the Army document, citing the tradition of confidentiality in dealing with the international agency."
Who the fuck are these people who are doing this shit? They claim to be the US Army? They are out of control.
News: "Israel was accused yesterday of committing a war crime by its destruction of more than 3,000 Palestinian homes in Israel and the occupied territories since the intifada began three and a half years ago.
The damning report from Amnesty International came as the Israeli army killed up to 19 Palestinians - children as well as militants - in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip where General Moshe Ya'alon, the army chief of staff, warned at the weekend that hundreds more homes could be destroyed.
In its critique of the Israeli policy of destroying buildings and 'vast areas' of agricultural land, the report challenges head-on the argument that the destruction is militarily necessary. It also warns that 'punitive forced evictions and house demolitions' are a 'flagrant form of collective punishment' that 'violate a fundamental principle of international law'."
This is terrorism, and Bush defends it. He says Israel has a right to defend itself. What kind of defense is this? "Asmaa Mughayer, 15, and her brother Ahmed, 13, were shot dead yesterday as they fed pigeons on the roof of their house. Their uncle, Mahmoud Mughayer, said that they had been unaware of the extent of the incursion because with the camp's electricity supply cut off by the assault there was no television. Their elder brother, Ali, 24, had shouted at them to come down because it was dangerous. When he heard no response, he climbed the steps to find his sister and brother lying dead in a pool of blood.
Mr Mughayer said: "The snipers fired at him, too. He lay on the ground, and slowly crept pulling them one after another to the third floor." He added that it had taken an ambulance five hours to arrive because of the firing. He added: "This was the biggest crime. Asmaa and Ahmed were not mujahedin. This is the largest injustice, unacceptable by humanity."
US troops 'abused Iraq reporters': "Fresh allegations have emerged in Iraq regarding the alleged mistreatment of Iraqi detainees by US troops.
The Reuters news agency says three of its local staff were subjected to sexually degrading treatment after being detained in January. "
Yahoo! News - 20 Palestinians killed in Israel sweep through Rafah, Bush "troubled": "At least 20 Palestinians were killed and more than 30 wounded as dozens of Israeli tanks and hundreds of troops swept through this Gaza refugee camp in one of the bloodiest operations of the intifada.
Two of the victims were children, hit by bullets as they played inside their home, while one Palestinian was killed when a bomb he was planting exploded.
... President George W. Bush (news - web sites) said he was troubled by the violence... "
Not troubled enough to pick up the phone and stop it, though!
Energy addicts now committing violent crimes: "Here's what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.
And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we're hooked on."
Powell Admits False WMD Claim: "Appearing on Meet the Press, Powell acknowledged--finally!--that he and the Bush administration misled the nation about the WMD threat posed by Iraq before the war. Specifically, he said that he was wrong when he appeared before the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003, and alleged that Iraq had developed mobile laboratories to produce biological weapons. That was one of the more dramatic claims he and the administration used to justify the invasion of Iraq. (Remember the drawings he displayed.) Yet Powell said on MTP, 'it turned our that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading.' Powell did not spell it out, but the main source for this claim was an engineer linked to the Iraqi National Congress, the exile group led by Ahmed Chalabi, who is now part of the Iraqi Governing Council.
... Shouldn't someone be held accountable?"
Monday, May 17, 2004
THE GRAY ZONE, by SEYMOUR M. HERSH: "The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld's decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of elite combat units, and hurt America's prospects in the war on terror.
... The solution, endorsed by Rumsfeld and carried out by Stephen Cambone, was to get tough with those Iraqis in the Army prison system who were suspected of being insurgents. A key player was Major General Geoffrey Miller, the commander of the detention and interrogation center at Guantánamo, who had been summoned to Baghdad in late August to review prison interrogation procedures. The internal Army report on the abuse charges, written by Major General Antonio Taguba in February, revealed that Miller urged that the commanders in Baghdad change policy and place military intelligence in charge of the prison. The report quoted Miller as recommending that “detention operations must act as an enabler for interrogation.”
... Cambone then made another crucial decision, the former intelligence official told me: not only would he bring the sap’s rules into the prisons; he would bring some of the Army military-intelligence officers working inside the Iraqi prisons under the sap’s auspices. “So here are fundamentally good soldiers—military-intelligence guys—being told that no rules apply,” the former official, who has extensive knowledge of the special-access programs, added. “And, as far as they’re concerned, this is a covert operation, and it’s to be kept within Defense Department channels.”
... By fall, according to the former intelligence official, the senior leadership of the C.I.A. had had enough. “They said, ‘No way. We signed up for the core program in Afghanistan—pre-approved for operations against high-value terrorist targets—and now you want to use it for cabdrivers, brothers-in-law, and people pulled off the streets’”—the sort of prisoners who populate the Iraqi jails. “The C.I.A.’s legal people objected,” and the agency ended its sap involvement in Abu Ghraib, the former official said.
... In a separate interview, a Pentagon consultant, who spent much of his career directly involved with special-access programs, spread the blame. “The White House subcontracted this to the Pentagon, and the Pentagon subcontracted it to Cambone,” he said. “This is Cambone’s deal, but Rumsfeld and Myers approved the program.” When it came to the interrogation operation at Abu Ghraib, he said, Rumsfeld left the details to Cambone. Rumsfeld may not be personally culpable, the consultant added, “but he’s responsible for the checks and balances. The issue is that, since 9/11, we’ve changed the rules on how we deal with terrorism, and created conditions where the ends justify the means.”
... “This shit has been brewing for months,” the Pentagon consultant who has dealt with saps told me. “You don’t keep prisoners naked in their cell and then let them get bitten by dogs. This is sick.” The consultant explained that he and his colleagues, all of whom had served for years on active duty in the military, had been appalled by the misuse of Army guard dogs inside Abu Ghraib. “We don’t raise kids to do things like that. When you go after Mullah Omar, that’s one thing. But when you give the authority to kids who don’t know the rules, that’s another.”
... In 2003, Rumsfeld’s apparent disregard for the requirements of the Geneva Conventions while carrying out the war on terror had led a group of senior military legal officers from the Judge Advocate General’s (jag) Corps to pay two surprise visits within five months to Scott Horton, who was then chairman of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on International Human Rights. “They wanted us to challenge the Bush Administration about its standards for detentions and interrogation,” Horton told me. “They were urging us to get involved and speak in a very loud voice. It came pretty much out of the blue. The message was that conditions are ripe for abuse, and it’s going to occur.” The military officials were most alarmed about the growing use of civilian contractors in the interrogation process, Horton recalled. “They said there was an atmosphere of legal ambiguity being created as a result of a policy decision at the highest levels in the Pentagon. The jag officers were being cut out of the policy formulation process.” They told him that, with the war on terror, a fifty-year history of exemplary application of the Geneva Conventions had come to an end.
... The Pentagon consultant made a similar point. Cambone and his superiors, the consultant said, “created the conditions that allowed transgressions to take place. And now we’re going to end up with another Church Commission”—the 1975 Senate committee on intelligence, headed by Senator Frank Church, of Idaho, which investigated C.I.A. abuses during the previous two decades. Abu Ghraib had sent the message that the Pentagon leadership was unable to handle its discretionary power. “When the shit hits the fan, as it did on 9/11, how do you push the pedal?” the consultant asked. “You do it selectively and with intelligence.”
... “In an odd way,” Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said, “the sexual abuses at Abu Ghraib have become a diversion for the prisoner abuse and the violation of the Geneva Conventions that is authorized.” Since September 11th, Roth added, the military has systematically used third-degree techniques around the world on detainees. “Some jags hate this and are horrified that the tolerance of mistreatment will come back and haunt us in the next war,” Roth told me. “We’re giving the world a ready-made excuse to ignore the Geneva Conventions. Rumsfeld has lowered the bar.”"
Pentagon confirms Korea troop cut: "The Pentagon has confirmed it is to send about 3,600 troops from South Korea to Iraq. "
So, we invade a country with no WMD, and just a month before we "hand over soveriegnty", we take 10% of the troops facing a rogue nation that does have WMD and move them to Iraq. And that is supposed to make us safer?
White House 'tried to block film': "The White House tried to halt the making and release of Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit 9/11, the film-maker alleged in Cannes on Sunday."
Bush: The Wastrel Son: "One by one, our erstwhile allies are disowning us; they don't want an unstable, anti-Western Iraq any more than we do, but they have concluded that President Bush is incorrigible. Spain has washed its hands of our problems, Italy is edging toward the door, and Britain will join the rush for the exit soon enough, with or without Tony Blair.
At home, however, Mr. Bush's protectors are not yet ready to make the break."
As Violence Deepens, So Does Pessimism (washingtonpost.com): "'We could not imagine the deterioration leading to such a point. It's getting worse day after day, and no one has been able to put an end to it. Who is going to protect the next government, no matter what kind it is?' said Abdul Jalil Mohsen, a former Iraqi general and member of the Iraqi National Accord, a prominent party represented on the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, which Salim headed this month under a rotating system.
'There's no question: A small band of people can paralyze the country,' said Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish member of the council. 'They are armed and organized and this is the difficulty. The people who did this have no respect for anything of value. It's a real danger to Iraq, the Iraqis and to an agenda to achieve any kind of democracy.'
Inside the Green Zone, the heavily fortified U.S. administration compound that Salim was about to enter when the suicide bomber struck, expectations are grim. 'It will take a lot of doing for this not to end in a debacle,' a senior occupation official said. 'There is no confidence in the coalition. Why should there be?'
On Baghdad's hot and dusty streets, Iraqi working people also expressed a deep sense of pessimism. 'Our country is at a loss. I don't think that even after the handover the government will control things,' said Ali Fakhri, who owns a fabric store in the Kadhimiya district.
'Just look around,' said Bakran Ohan, who sells baby clothes. 'Do you see any police? Any soldiers? There is a complete lack of security. It won't change from day to night on June 30.' "
M.P.'s Received Orders to Strip Iraqi Detainees: "Colonel Pappas confirmed in his statements that his unit had enacted several changes recommended by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, the head of detention operations at Guant�namo Bay, Cuba, whom the Pentagon sent to Iraq in August and September to review detention operations.
A major finding of General Miller's visit, Colonel Pappas said, was 'to provide dedicated M.P.'s in support of interrogations.'
Several military police officers and their commanders at Abu Ghraib have said that military intelligence officers directed them to 'set the conditions' to enhance the questioning. When General Taguba asked what safeguards existed to ensure that guards 'understand the instructions or limits of instructions, or whether the instructions were legal,' Colonel Pappas acknowledged that there were no assurances."
M.P.'s Received Orders to Strip Iraqi Detainees: "The American officer who was in charge of interrogations at the Abu Ghraib prison has told a senior Army investigator that intelligence officers sometimes instructed the military police to force Iraqi detainees to strip naked and to shackle them before questioning them. But he said those measures were not imposed 'unless there is some good reason.'
The officer, Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, also told the investigator, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, that his unit had 'no formal system in place' to monitor instructions they had given to military guards, who worked closely with interrogators to prepare detainees for interviews. Colonel Pappas said he 'should have asked more questions, admittedly' about abuses committed or encouraged by his subordinates.
The statements by Colonel Pappas, contained in the transcript of a Feb. 11 interview that is part of General Taguba's 6,000-page classified report, offer the highest-level confirmation so far that military intelligence soldiers directed military guards in preparing for interrogations."
Wreckage of an Iraq policy: "The head of the American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council was assassinated in a car bombing in central Baghdad yesterday, delivering a stunning blow to the United States administration's policy in Iraq, just weeks before it plans to hand over sovereignty to a new Iraqi government.
Izzedin Salim was killed at the entrance to the green zone, the US headquarters in Baghdad and the most heavily guarded place in Iraq, and US forces were powerless to prevent it.
... The Bush administration is facing accusations that the 'handover' on 30 June will be purely cosmetic, allowing it to claim, before November's presidential election, that the occupation of Iraq is over. Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, let the cat out of the bag at the weekend when he said the handover was 'so that it no longer looks like an occupation'."
Republicans Oppose Basic American Values: "'If American life and values change radically because of the attacks,' ABC's Sam Donaldson wrote, ten days after 9/11, 'the terrorists will have won.'
... Incredible as it seems, these "Americans" actually approve of torture.
Talk radio king Rush Limbaugh, comparing the SS-style siccing of vicious German shepherds on Iraqi POWs to a fraternity initiation prank, led the charge of the torture apologists: "All right, so we're at war with these people. And they're in a prison where they're being softened up for interrogation. And we hear that the most humiliating thing you can do is make one Arab male disrobe in front of another. Sounds to me like it's pretty thoughtful. Sounds to me in the context of war this is pretty good intimidation--and especially if you put a woman in front of them and then spread those pictures around the Arab world." If cruelty is carefully calibrated to cultural mores, who cares whether it's wrong?
Besides, argues El Rushbaugh, the torturers were just funnin': "You ever heard of emotional release? You heard of need to blow some steam off?" Boys (and girls) will be (psycho) boys.
Days after articles of impeachment were introduced against him in the House of Representatives, the indefatigable Don Rumsfeld told a Senate committee that even now, even after Abu Ghraib, denying POWs sleep, starving them, subjecting them to painful "stress positions" and other forms of torture are still being inflicted upon inmates--guilty or innocent and always uncharged--throughout his Defense Department gulags.
... I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than we are by the treatment [of Iraqi POWs]," spat Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a card-holding member of the Party of Lincoln, to fellow members of the Armed Services Committee. "You know, they're not there for traffic violations. They're murderers, they're terrorists, they're insurgents."
Actually, according to the Red Cross report on Abu Ghraib, 90 percent of the detainees had been "arrested by mistake."
Inhofe's rant continued: "I have to say when we talk about the treatment of these prisoners that I would guess that these prisoners wake up every morning thanking Allah that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) is not in charge of these prisons." Yup, that's no doubt the expression on their faces: gratitude.
... The fact that other human beings can conceive of miseries even crueler and more painful to inflict cannot exculpate us for the sins we commit. Is the robber less guilty because he can look down on the kidnapper? Shall we forgive Hitler for killing six million Jews if someone else kills seven? "
