I’m True
James Booker

25 Nov 2006 15:58:24 GMT
Source: Reuters

More MADRID, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorised the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison’s former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday.

Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told Spain’s El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation.

Karpinski, who ran the prison until early 2004, said she saw a memorandum signed by Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods.

“The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: “Make sure this is accomplished”,” she told Saturday’s El Pais.

“The methods consisted of making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation … playing music at full volume, having to sit in uncomfortably … Rumsfeld authorised these specific techniques.”

The Geneva Convention says prisoners of war should suffer “no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion” to secure information.

More here

Writing at CommonDreams, David Benjamin gives us his list of Top Five Pseudo-Events Of The Bush Regime:

5.Plastic Turkey for the Troops. On the first Thanksgiving of the Iraq war, Dubya surprised the troops with a turkey dinner. Except, well, the turkey, which photographed beautifully, was fake. And Dubya didn’t actually hang around for dinner. Nice uniform, though.

4. Dubya’s Ground Zero Grandstand Play. Bush got years of media mileage for showing up at ground zero in New York three days late. Dressed like a manly man and yelling through a megaphone as firefighters cheered and cops wept, Bush promised to hunt down Osama bin Laden and avenge this outrage. Since then, Bush has exploited the victims of Sept. 11, cut funding for first responders (firefighters and cops) and, um … Osama? Still out there.

3. Bush v. Gore. The perfect TV pseudo-event. Talking heads suffered a case of the collective vapors while reading the Supreme Court decision that handed the 2000 election to George W. Bush. You could cut the suspense with a knife, but only if you neglected to note that all the justices on Dubya’s side (except, of course, for William Rehnquist, proud product of Tricky Dick) had been appointed by administrations in which Bush’s father was president or vice president.

2. The Jackson Square Light Show. Three days late (again), Dubya coptered into the Big Easy. Stagehands set up a thrilling array of klieg lights, powered with giant generators. Dubya knitted his brow, clenched his fist, made a speech and blew town. Then the stagehands packed up the lights and took away the generators. Rescue teams went back to hunting for dead bodies in the dark.

1. “Mission Accomplished.” Ah, the USS Abraham Lincoln. The glorious landing. The flight suit. The boyish smirk. The banner. The declaration of triumph in Iraq, with only 2,500 more American kids (give or take a thousand) left to kill. Brilliant! Dazzling! Mwah!

The political leader of Hamas has said Palestinians will begin a third intifada - or uprising - if a political route to a Palestinian state within 1967 borders is not found within six months.

“If our demands are not met, the Palestinian people will close all political files and launch a third intifada,” Khaled Meshaal said in Cairo on Saturday.

“We give the international community six months for real political horizons. There is a historic opportunity for a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.”

continue reading

There are people you may not be too sure whether they’re lying to you or not… then there’s Bush.

Bush applauds troops, reassures Katrina victims

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush on Saturday renewed the nation’s commitment to help victims of last year’s Gulf Coast hurricanes and thanked U.S. troops fighting abroad.

In his Saturday radio address, Bush said Americans are grateful to those who rallied after hurricanes Katrina and Rita to bring food, water and hope to people who lost everything.

“We renew our commitment to help those who are still suffering and to rebuild our nation’s Gulf Coast,” Bush said.

Full CNN article here

Gonna help those victims. Gonna pull out all the stops. Yep, we all sure believe that!

Russia has set the agenda for the global transition to an entirely new model of international energy security designed to address intensifying concerns, especially those of the rising East.

Russia, possessing unequaled energy-based leverage, has taken the leadership among the world’s producers and the rising powerhouse economies of the East to promote a vast worldwide web of alliances and ties prominently featuring rigid bilateral, private long-term supply contracts.

This model runs counter to and increasingly circumvents the established liberal US-backed global oil market denominated in US dollars. The West relies on the current order for its energy security. It cannot function without it, and therefore the order is its single point of weakness. And Russia is acting as the “point man” to locate and exploit, with the help of its partners, this Achilles’ heel of the West.

Read full article, and see Part I here

WASHINGTON - The New York Times asked the Supreme Court on Friday to block the government from reviewing the phone records of two reporters in a leak investigation about a terrorism-funding probe.

The case involved stories written in 2001 by Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon that revealed the government’s plans to freeze the assets of two Islamic charities, the Holy Land Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation.

In a 2-1 decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said federal prosecutors can see the phone records of Shenon and Miller. Miller retired from the Times a year ago.

The Times wants Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to block temporarily the government from going through the records so that the newspaper can prepare a petition arguing why the justices should step into the case. Ginsburg asked the Justice Department for a response.

More here

WASHINGTON -
Supporters of stem cell research are confident they will pass legislation expanding federally funded research in the next Congress - regardless of whether President Bush continues to oppose the move.
Congress passed the legislation last year, but Bush killed the bill, exercising his only veto in six years. But the election results have changed the landscape, and Sen. Orrin Hatch believes supporters can round up enough votes to override a presidential veto, if it comes to that.
“I think we have the votes in the Senate to override a veto, and we may have them in the House. I think we can get there,” the Utah Republican said. “According to some, we’re only a couple votes short, and I think I know where those votes are.”
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who will be the lead sponsor of the House bill, said she recently spoke to the 41 new House Democrats and “to describe them as wildly enthusiastic about this bill would be an understatement.” “I think the election really sent a message to Washington that the voters want embryonic stem cell research passed,” she said.

More here