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Paging Mr. Fitzgerald
Newsweek: Secret Memo—Send to Be Tortured:
In a memo forwarded to a senior FBI lawyer on Nov. 27, 2002, a supervisory special agent from the bureau’s behavioral analysis unit offered a legal analysis of interrogation techniques that had been approved by Pentagon officials for use against a high-value Qaeda detainee. After objecting to techniques such as exploiting "phobias" like "the fear of dogs" or dripping water "to induce the misperception of drowning," the agent discussed a plan to send the detainee to Jordan, Egypt or an unspecified third country for interrogation. "In as much as the intent of this category is to utilize, outside the U.S., interrogation techniques which would violate [U.S. law] if committed in the U.S., it is a per se violation of the U.S. Torture Statute," the agent wrote. "Discussing any plan which includes this category could be seen as a con-spiracy to violate [the Torture Statute]" and "would inculpate" everyone involved.
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(The memo’s author, a former New York City prosecutor, declined to comment to NEWSWEEK.)
“A Stroke of Genius?”
"It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile."
Powerline: A Stroke of Genius?
"I have long been convinced that my artistic ideal stands or falls with Germany. Only the Germany that we love and desire can help us achieve that ideal."
Richard Wagner quotes
Weekend Thread
WB: Sucker Pitch
But the fact that the GOP can afford to dump $330k into a race just to keep the opposition from scoring a few bragging points (or to punish the crime of lese majesty — take your pick) is a sign of just how much of a financial supercharge 10 years of DeLayism have given the machine.
Sucker Pitch
WB: Austin City Limits
This, even more than the hard evidence, is what feeds my suspicion that the Rovians have something wired — or think they do. Whether it’s the computerized voting machines (or the far less complex software inside the heads of the sleepwalking fools who use them) I don’t know. But it suggests the pork party could get a lot wilder, and last quite a bit longer, before the money finally runs out.
Austin City Limits
Heat Warnings
Heat warnings were issued in nine eastern states and in the cities of Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore.
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Temperatures topped 38C (100F), hitting record highs in Florence, South Carolina and Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina on Tuesday.
New York City power usage reached a new record of 12,551 megawatts, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the opening of special public air-conditioned "cooling centres".
BBC News, July 28, 2005
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5 DAY FORECAST (day | night)
Thursday - 118°F (48°C) | 90°F (32°C)
Friday - 118°F (48°C) | 90°F (32°C)
Saturday - 119°F (48°C) | 83°F (28°C)
Sunday - 119°F (48°C) | 81°F (27°C)
Monday - 119°F (48°C) | 80°F (27°C)
CNN Weather, Baghdad, Iraq, current
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The electricity ministry said six attacks in the last 10 days on the power grid has led to a reduction in the electricity supplies to Baghdad and nearby southern provinces, according to government newspaper al-Sabah. Power in Baghdad is down to a half an hour of electricity followed by a six-hour blackout.
AP, July 28, 2005
“Find Opportunities”
Mr. Rumsfeld also said Iraq should "find opportunities" to thank allied countries for their contributions over the past several months.
NYT
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Who was killed?
– 24,865 civilians were reported killed in the first two years.
– Women and children accounted for almost 20% of all civilian deaths.
– Baghdad alone recorded almost half of all deaths.
When did they die?
– 30% of civilian deaths occurred during the invasion phase before 1 May 2003.
– Post-invasion, the number of civilians killed was almost twice as high in year two (11,351) as in year one (6,215).
Who did the killing?
– US-led forces killed 37% of civilian victims.
– Anti-occupation forces/insurgents killed 9% of civilian victims.
– Post-invasion criminal violence accounted for 36% of all deaths.
– Killings by anti-occupation forces, crime and unknown agents have shown a steady rise over the entire period.
Oxford Research Group
Labour Struggle
by Debs is dead (lifted from a comment)
This is either very bad or perhaps it’s going to be a good thing. People involved in the US Labor unions will have a better idea.
The article which reports the disaffiliation of the Teamsters and SEIU from the AFL-CIO can be taken as a sign that the right has finally managed to drive a wedge through the middle of one of it’s main opponents to it’s enslavement of everbody to corporate ethos.
Cont. reading: Labour Struggle
Another Open One
Other news, views, opinions …
WB: Cease Fire Violation
For those in North America who still care about social justice, tolerance and rationality, Canada might be the better long-term bet. But unless someone is willing to challenge the conservative status quo in this country, unless activists are willing to try to cultivate and grow the liberal base, the DLC’s political philosophy will become a self-fufilling prophesy.
Cease Fire Violation
WB: Clone Wars
The only flaw I can see in the Army’s performance is in acknowledging an “administrative error.” Sure, it’s a minor concession — so minor it would be almost laughable if the quotes really were fake (which of course they’re not.)
Clone Wars
WB: Roberts to the Rescue
Rovian gonads aren’t nearly weighty enough to take on the DA directly, using the standard media hit men. But an entire Senate investigating committee on the take — one that can hide behind the facade of national security? That’s a sweet deal. Imagine what Nixon could have done with a tool like that.
Roberts to the Rescue
WB: Film Noir
But torture is a matter of principle to this administration, and it looks like the White House is going to pull out all the stops (and maybe a few fingernails) to preserve in full the executive branch’s God-given authority to violate the Geneva Convention and the International Convention Against Torture.
Film Noir
WB: Suddenly in a Hurry
WB: Self Esteem
WB: The Beirut Express
Considering the American blunders, American crimes and — worst of all — sheer American ignorance that brought Iraq and its peoples to this point, such a stance has about as much moral integrity as a little boy who, having dumped a bunch of red ants and black ants together to watch them fight, gets bored with the whole thing and flushes them all down the toilet. It is beneath contempt.
The Beirut Express
Open Thread 05-75
WB: War of the Words
WB: Round Up the Usual Suspects
The Egyptian government is blaming (I kid you not) “local Bedouin.”
Round Up the Usual Suspects
Execution “Tragedy”
"He looked absolutely petrified and then he sort of tripped, but they were hotly pursuing him, [they] couldn’t have been any more than two or three feet behind him at this time and he half tripped and was half pushed to the floor and the policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand.
"He held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him.
BBC News, Friday, 22 July, 2005
A man shot dead by police as part of the inquiry into Thursday’s attempted bomb attacks was unconnected to the incidents, police have confirmed.
A Scotland Yard statement said the shooting was a "tragedy" which was regretted by the Metropolitan Police.
BBC News, Saturday, 23 July, 2005
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