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July 5, 2006
OT 06-59
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Haaretz: Ministry admits ‘blacklist’ of Palestinians who left W. Bank
The government maintains a “blacklist” of Palestinians who left the territories during the 1967 Six Day War, and have since been barred from coming back, lest they sue for the return of their land, the Defense Ministry admitted for the first time Tuesday.
The property has been used to establish settlements and military bases in the Jordan Valley.
…
according to military sources, a significant portion of the Jordan Valley settlements were established on land owned by Palestinian absentees. Parts of the absentees’ lands were also given to local Palestinians in exchange for their lands, which were than transferred to the settlements.
In a legal opinion drafted in October 2003, the legal adviser for Judea and Samaria warned that the use of these lands was illegal, and suggested that the government find a way to resolve the problem, since if it ended up in court, “it would not benefit the state in any way, and would cause a chain reaction that would endanger the entire fabric of the relevant settlements’ lan.”
Widespread illegal experiment conducted at Meir Hospital
Professor Mordechai Ravid and five other doctors and interns at Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava conducted an illegal medical experiment on some 60 women, most of whom were Arab.
The experiment was conducted without obtaining the requisite approval of the hospital’s Helsinki Committee for human experiments, and without the patients’ signed consent.
The experiments were conducted between 2001 and 2003, on diabetic patients aged 45 to 70.
Funny, neocon mouthpiece Max Boot has a column I agree with: Our enemies aren’t drinking lattes
Among the more surrealistic moments of my travels was pausing at a base near Baqubah — a far-from-pacified Iraqi city that was Abu Musab Zarqawi’s last base of operations — to enjoy a fresh-brewed iced latte at a Green Beans coffee shop. It hit the spot, but when I later told a Marine captain about the experience, he took away some of my enjoyment by asking, “I wonder how many men had to die to get those coffee beans to Baqubah?”
…
When spending time on such installations, it’s easy to forget where you are. The only reminder that you’re not in Ft. Hood, Texas, comes in the form of occasional, inaccurate mortar rounds or rockets fired by insurgents.
Successful counterinsurgency operations require troops to go out among the people, gathering intelligence and building goodwill. But few Iraqis are allowed on these bases, and few Americans are allowed out — and then only in forbidding armored convoys.
Most of our resources aren’t going to fight terrorists but to maintain a smattering of mini-Americas in the Middle East. As one Special Forces officer pungently put it to me: “The only function that thousands of people are performing out here is to turn food into [excrement].”
…
My theory is that any organization prefers to focus on what it does well. In the case of the Pentagon, that’s logistics. Our ability to move supplies is unparalleled in military history. Fighting guerrillas, on the other hand, has never been a mission that has found much favor with the armed forces. So logistics trumps strategy. Which may help explain why we’re not having greater success in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It explains not that the US is losing the wars, that is a question of “just war” and moral and that is not on the US side. But it explains the huge costs the US runs up and which will longterm drag on its capacity.
If the money that brews iced lattes would go to heards and minds project, that probably could have an effect.
Albright in German Newspaper
Former American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Wednesday harshly criticized the Iraq war, calling it the “biggest mistake in US history”.
Asked by the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper, whether the US invasion of Iraq was a mistake, Albright responded by saying that this is “likely the biggest wrong foreign policy decision in the history of the United States”.
She pointed out that Washington did not take into account the repercussions of the Iraq war, according to the German-language transcript of Albright’s interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau.
Albright made clear that America’s reputation was “badly damaged, ts moral status undermined and its credibility in terms of rule of law harmed” in the wake of incidents at the Abu Ghraib prison.
The ex-US official added that America would face a hard time to restore its image as role model in the world.
The former top US diplomat said Washington was not aware of what was really going on inside Iraq like the important role of Islam in Iraq.
She called it “fatal” that the Iraq war is seen in the Arab world as an example of a western crusade against Islam.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 5 2006 12:48 utc | 4
I knew Ken Lay would never serve any jail time. Wonder where he’s off to now that he’s joined the Witness Relocation Program?
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 5 2006 15:01 utc | 5
With regards to Kennyboy, reminds me of the crude joke of my teen years. It goes something like, “Yes, I’d suck a dick, for a million dollars, nobody knows me in Tahiti, and a million bucks will buy alot of Listerine® Antiseptic Mouthwash”.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 16:03 utc | 6
I honestly don’t believe the official story. These fucks laugh at American gullibility….Some additional details in the Denver Post.
“From this day forward, Ken Lay no longer exists. Say hello to Miguel Sanchez!”
You just know there’s a new dude in Placencia, Belize sitting on the beach drinking pina coladas with Whitey Bulger. And a cleaned-up homeless guy’s carcass in an ornate casket in Colorado.
Call me morbid, cynical… I’d like a third party autopsy before I even begin to believe it.
Oh, and Bush can pardon posthumously. Actually it will be far easier to pardon him now.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 16:25 utc | 7
@Unca
That is precisely the half-joking point I was aiming at with my post #5, above.
Got to say, I’ve never heard of anyone except maybe Jack Ruby who found such an incredibly convenient time to die.
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 5 2006 16:35 utc | 9
@beq
No worries. I do that kind of thing all the time.
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 5 2006 16:48 utc | 11
secrecy news: The U.S. Marine Corps has recently published a series of documents on counterinsurgency
“Small-Unit Leaders’ Guide to Counterinsurgency,” June 2006 (4.7 MB PDF file).
“Countering Irregular Threats: A Comprehensive Approach,” 14 June 2006 (3.2 MB PDF file).
“Tentative Manual for Countering Irregular Threats: An Updated Approach to Counterinsurgency Operations,” 7 June 2006.
it’s telling that the marine’s have segmented their manuals to accomodate leaders w/ “small units”
Posted by: b real | Jul 5 2006 17:29 utc | 12
in the words of the President’s other First Lady
“No one could have expected…”
Posted by: citizen | Jul 5 2006 17:32 utc | 13
And they laugh and laugh…
Cheney Bets Against the Dollar …
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 17:41 utc | 14
Ken Lay is NOT the first Enron executive to kick off suddenly.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 18:13 utc | 15
@B Real:
A little light reading, eh.
Thanks for finding it.
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 5 2006 18:17 utc | 16
addendum:
Lay may not have sung at trial, but there remains his under-examined role in Dick Cheney’s still secretive Energy Task Force. (It was on Lay’s recommendation that Bush appointed Cheney to the position.) Nor can he now be brought out to testify… Think about that one.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 18:46 utc | 17
p. 40 of Tentative manual for Countering Irregular Threats
“From the perspective of a western democracy, nearly all violence conducted by insurgents is illegitimate – that is unless we are for some reason supporting the rebels.”
Read pages 45-47 (paper, not pdf pages), and you will know that the U.S. has asked the Marines to recreate the Raj, that counterinsurgency experts are asking U.S. soldiers to watch their mates get obliterated from time to time, but not obliterate in return. I call these pages evidence that the officers know what they are tasked to do is impossible.
Posted by: citizen | Jul 5 2006 18:58 utc | 18
Ken Lay Lives!
“kynicism”* or “cynicism”
*kynicism? See: “kynical irony”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 20:00 utc | 19
Call me morbid, cynical…
Just very twisted wierd, Uncle.
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 5 2006 20:56 utc | 20
uncle, we think alike sometimes, reports of his death have been highly exaggerated.
Posted by: annie | Jul 5 2006 21:14 utc | 21
Anyone else notice that Joe Lieberman has basically copied Ariel Sharon’s political ploys of party machinations/splitting?
Posted by: biklett | Jul 5 2006 21:26 utc | 22
@ Biklett:
I can’t believe that oranized labor endorsed the SOB.
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 5 2006 21:41 utc | 23
This just HAS to be savored:
Reuters.
In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said he had not spoken to Bush about Lay’s death, but distanced the president from the former Enron chief who was once a major contributor to the Bushes’ political campaigns.
“The president has described Ken Lay as an acquaintance, and many of the president’s acquaintances have passed on during his time in office,” Snow told reporters.
—
It does not get any better than that.
“… many of the president’s acquaintances have passed on during his time in office.”
Man…you can say THAT again.
And a lot of his non-acquaintances, too.
Many, MANY of them quite unexpectedly.
Further, It looks at though his conviction and indictment may be expunged.
Read the analysis here
Will this have effect on pending civil litigation to his ‘estate’?
Wanna bet?
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 23:16 utc | 24
hahaha..
“We believe that God is, in fact, in control – and indeed HE does work all things for good for those who love the Lord. And we love our Lord, and ultimately all of these things will work for good.”~Ken Lay
p.s.
will have to see how this plays out obviously, but am amazed how the media (including big guns like the NYT and washpo) take the “sudden massive heart attack” idea and run with it.
looks like it was a pastor (incorrectly identified as a doctor on RAW) who is saying “massive coronary” and “his heart simply gave out.” no comment from anyone in the medical field yet.
the more responsible thing would be to say at least “apparent” heart attack, as it is difficult to know unless a treating physician speaks up or until the autopsy is performed. and certainly the circumstances are suspicious…..
btw, since when are Pastors capable of doing autopsies and toxicologies?
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 23:42 utc | 25
The Internet Knows What You’ll Do Next
Copy in full, but Oh, so worth the space…
July 5, 2006
David Leonhardt
The Internet Knows What You’ll Do Next
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/business/05leonhardt.html
A FEW years back, a technology writer named John Battelle began talking about how the Internet had made it possible to predict the future. When people went to the home page of Google or Yahoo and entered a few words into a search engine, what they were really doing, he realized, was announcing their intentions.
They typed in “Alaskan cruise” because they were thinking about taking one or “baby names” because they were planning on needing one. If somebody were to add up all this information, it would produce a pretty good notion of where the world was headed, of what was about to get hot and what was going out of style.
Mr. Battelle, a founder of Wired magazine and the Industry Standard, wasn’t the first person to figure this out. But he did find a way to describe the digital crystal ball better than anyone else had. He called it “the database of intentions.”
The collective history of Web searches, he wrote on his blog in late 2003, was “a place holder for the intentions of humankind � a massive database of desires, needs, wants, and likes that can be discovered, subpoenaed, archived, tracked, and exploited to all sorts of ends.”
“Such a beast has never before existed in the history of culture, but is almost guaranteed to grow exponentially from this day forward,” he wrote. It was a nice idea, but for most of us it was just an abstraction. The search companies did offer glimpses into the data with bare-bones (and sanitized) rankings of the most popular search terms, and Yahoo sold more detailed information to advertisers who wanted to do a better job of selling their products online. But there was no way for most people to dig into the data themselves.
A few weeks ago, Google took a big step toward changing this � toward making the database of intentions visible to the world � by creating a product called Google Trends. It allows you to check the relative popularity of any search term, to look at how it has changed over the last couple years and to see the cities where the term is most popular. And it’s totally addictive.
YOU can see, for example, that the volume of Google searches would have done an excellent job predicting this year’s “American Idol,” with Taylor Hicks (the champion) being searched more often than Katharine McPhee (second place), who in turn was searched more often than Elliot Yamin (third place). Then you can compare Hillary Clinton and Al Gore and discover that she was more popular than he for almost all of the last two years, until he surged past her in April and stayed there.
Thanks to Google Trends, the mayor of Elmhurst, Ill., a Chicago suburb, has had to explain why his city devotes more of its Web searches to “sex” than any other in the United States (because it doesn’t have strip clubs or pornography shops, he gamely told The Chicago Sun-Times). On Mr. Battelle’s blog, somebody claiming to own an apparel store posted a message saying that it was stocking less Von Dutch clothing and more Ed Hardy because of recent search trends.(A disclosure: The New York Times Company owns a stake in Mr. Battelle’s latest Internet company, Federated Media Publishing.)
It’s the connection to marketing that turns the database of intentions from a curiosity into a real economic phenomenon. For now, Google Trends is still a blunt tool. It shows only graphs, not actual numbers, and its data is always about a month out of date. The company will never fully pull back the curtain, I’m sure, because the data is a valuable competitive tool that helps Google decide which online ads should appear at the top of your computer screen, among other things.
But Google does plan to keep adding to Trends, and other companies will probably come up with their own versions as well. Already, more than a million analyses are being done some days on Google Trends, said Marissa Mayer, the vice president for search at Google.
When these tools get good enough, you can see how the business of marketing may start to change. As soon as a company begins an advertising campaign, it will be able to get feedback from an enormous online focus group and then tweak its message accordingly.
I’ve found Pepsi’s recent Super Bowl commercials � the ones centered around P. Diddy � to be nearly devoid of wit, but that just shows you how good my marketing instincts are. As it turns out, the only recent times that Pepsi has been a more popular search term in this country than Coke have been right after a Super Bowl. This year’s well-reviewed Burger King paean to Busby Berkeley, on the other hand, barely moved the needle inside the database of intentions.
Hal R. Varian, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, who advises Google, predicts that online metrics like this one have put Madison Avenue on the verge of a quantitative revolution, similar to the one Wall Street went through in the 1970’s when it began parsing market data much more finely. “People have hunches, people have prejudices, people have ideas,” said Mr. Varian, who also writes for this newspaper about once a month. “Once you have data, you can test them out and make informed decisions going forward.”
There are certainly limitations to this kind of analysis. It’s most telling for products that are bought, or at least researched, online, a category that does not include Coke, Pepsi or Whoppers. And even with clothing or cars, interest doesn’t always translate into sales. But there is no such thing as a perfect yardstick in marketing, and the database of intentions clearly offers something new.
In the 19th century, a government engineer whose work became the seed of I.B.M. designed a punch-card machine that allowed for a mechanically run Census, which eventually told companies who their customers were. The 20th century brought public opinion polls that showed what those customers were thinking. This century’s great technology can give companies, and anyone else, a window into what people are actually doing, in real time or even ahead of time.
You might find that a little creepy, but I bet that you’ll also check it out sometime
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 5 2006 23:51 utc | 26
Justin Raimondo’s on a roll.
Just a word of advice.
Dig in and enjoy:
LINK
Meanwhile, in another contiguous theatre, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK is playing to rave reviews.
God Bless America!
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 6 2006 2:16 utc | 28
Falstaff’s Limp Pistol
Mob of Launches a 4oJ Fizzle
API – Cape Rumsfeld
Monday 10 July 2006
Typhoon Kim proved last week that, “no ill wind blows no man to good’.
While a predicted self-destruct on launch might sooth US Everymen,
it sure blew a lot of hot air up Condi’s skirt, and fresh life into the Neo’s.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/dprk/missile/td-2.htm
The US Defense Department’s own missile analysts have already
described the North Korean Taepo Dong II cobble-up as, “The equivalent of
adding a second roof onto your ’71 Oldsmobile, then calling it a ‘mini-van’.”
In theory, perhaps such a two- or three-stage missile might could
reach the outermost Western Aleutian islands, home to puffins and sea
otters, or even reach the Hawaiian Antilles, those far-western cluster of
lifeless coral heads that noone but fishermen have ever seen up close.
And that’s without a payload of any kind. Just a dead dummy tin dong.
In theory. In actuality, Defense analysts predicted that adding a second
or third stage to the Taepo Dong I medium-range missile would cause
a structural imbalance, uncorrectable without a better guidance system
and a completely redesigned first stage. Tuesday’s launch proved them
entirely correct. The first stage wasn’t sufficiently rigid, and the missile
quickly began to tumble into self-destruction.
Splash two.
?Did our Defense Department Elite at the Pentagon shout, “I told you!”
Did NASA Rocket Phreaks come forward to receive warm accollades?
Au contraire. Instead, behind the scenes, Condi and the White House
Scream Machine were busy cooking up the Next Great Holocaust (TM).
“OH … MY … GOD! KIM – HAS – THE – BOMB! KIM – HAS – THE – BOMB!”
Chi-ching! Every talking head and Neo-bloid picked up the Big
Chill. “Oh, my God, what are we gonna do!!!! We’re all gonna die!!!!!!”
1) Everyone in Def Int said the Taepo Dong II was a piece of crap.
2) Kim’s second attempt proved everyone correct. It’s a piece of crap.
3) Everyone in the WH is screaming, “It’s the end of the world. Let’s roll those battalions of battle tanks over the DMZ!”
?Where is our Pentagon and Homeland Security, calming all these
unfounded fears of its poor citizens? Silent. Missing in action. AWOL.
?Where is NASA, the “best of the best”, carefully explaining the obvious?
Shooting $28B of our tax dollars into LEO, and looking the other way.
Damn them for their lies, their treachery and their traitorous complicity.
Odds US citizen will be made homeless by Kim Jong Il: 0 in 300,000,000.
Odds US citizen will be homeless by a 2006 hurricane: 1 in 500
I’m sure Condi is sending Kim Jung Il a congratulatory fruit basket,
for being the first leader to panic our Republic with just his dip stick,
and for pulling King George out of the low teens in the global polls.
“Love Ya’, My Little Sock Puppet!”
Posted by: Nasa Sucks | Jul 6 2006 2:46 utc | 29
Shit City. Just heard that according to Texas law, since kennyboy died before all the Appeals were completed all Civil Judgements are vacated…
Posted by: jj | Jul 6 2006 5:41 utc | 30
A nice write up of the Cunningham/Lewis/Foggo etc bribing story in Vanity Fair.
Washington Babylon
The NYTimes today reports briefly on a story that naturally receives heavier play in the Italian press, namely the arrest Marco Mancini and Gustavo Pignero, the current head of Italian military counterespionage and his predecessor. They are charged with helping the CIA in its kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (aka Abu Omar) from Milan in 2003 and his subsequent “extraordinary rendition” to Egypt. A more detailed account (in Italian) may be found, for example, here, where one learns that arrest warrants for four Americans have been issued (Jeff Castelli (CIA honcho now at Langley), Ralph Russomando, Sabrina de Sousa, and Joseph Romano, chief security officer for the U.S. air base in Aviano, Italy). (The warrants are for “custodia cautelare” which would appear to correspond to “preventive detention”). About 20 other American spooks (including Robert Seldon Lady) have already been indicted in this case, but the extradition proceeding requested by the Milan magistrates was quashed by Berlusconi’s justice minister a few weeks before the elections which threw the Berlusconi government out of office.
Ex-president Francesco Cossiga characterized these new arrests as meriting a telegram of congratulations from Osama Bin Laden, and the Italian right (or what passes for rightist opposition) has generally been critical of these attempts to bring the rule of law to the dirty world of counterespionage.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 6 2006 7:29 utc | 32
Just in case anyone is interested in further background on the
arrests in the Abu Omar kidnapping is concerned this link briefly describes Russomando’s role in the (botched) cover-up, and gives a bit of intra-CIA back-stabbing (only
verbal, of course, when the targets are colleagues). It would be interesting, but not too surprising, if there were links between some of the spooks whose cover has been blown in the
Abu Omar affair and the the architects of the much more highly visible Plame yellowcake document fabrication.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 6 2006 7:44 utc | 33
@Hannah, there are definitly links beween Niger and the current SISMI case.
But it is also about illegaly listening to journalist phone calls and other Italy internal dirt. This is the unreveling of parts of Berlusconi’s private mafia.
I hope those investigators will keep digging. Laura Rozen who is on the story for some time has some more bits.
If I was a plaintiff in one of those civil suits I’d be demanding DNA tests. I wouldn’t be that surprised if the heirs to his estate, who stood to lose it all if the actions proceeded, didn’t kill him themselves.
Posted by: PeeDee | Jul 6 2006 8:35 utc | 35
Steele in the Guardian: Europe’s response to the siege of Gaza is shameful
Thank goodness for the Swiss. Alone in Europe, their government has dared to condemn what the Israelis are doing to Gaza. It is collective punishment, they say. It violates the principle of proportionality. Israel has not taken the precautions required by international law to protect civilians.
…
Its statement stands in contrast to the European Union’s shamefully muted voice. The Palestinians kill two soldiers and take one prisoner and, in response, power stations are blown up, sewage and water systems grind to a halt, bridges are destroyed, sonic booms terrify children day and night, and all this is inflicted on a hungry people who are under siege in what is effectively a huge open prison. The EU’s response? Vague expressions of “concern” and calls for “restraint”.
Is it World Cup madness? The rush for last-minute cheap summer holiday deals? Couldn’t European leaders show a tenth of the courage of Israel’s brilliant columnist, Gideon Levy? “It is not legitimate to cut off 750,000 people from electricity. It is not legitimate to call on 20,000 people to run from their homes and turn their towns into ghost towns. It is not legitimate to kidnap half a government and a quarter of a parliament. A state that takes such steps is no longer distinguishable from a terror organisation,” he wrote this week in Haaretz.
…
The outcome of the current crisis is unclear. However it ends, the moment has surely come for Europe to break from its useless policy of backing the US and Israel. The Olmert government is trying to destroy not only Hamas but Mahmoud Abbas. Like Sharon’s, it wants to undermine every moderate Palestinian by showing them up as powerless. It seeks only domination, not negotiation. Whether the ultimate agenda is to starve all Palestinians into fleeing to Egypt, Jordan and even further afield, or merely to keep Gaza as a prison of the unemployed and the West Bank as a bunch of Bantustans, Israeli policy mocks every UN resolution on the conflict.
The EU should admit that the Palestinians have no partner for peace. They will only have one if Israel recognises Palestine’s right to function. Statements that Israel recognises a Palestinian state’s right to exist are empty as long as Olmert expands Jewish settlements and the separation wall, and refuses to spell out how that state can operate as a viable entity. Without the right to function, the right to exist is hollow.
Thanks to B. for the link to Laura Rozen, who in turn links to
this appraisal of the Italian aspects of the story which seems to me to
sum up the main points very well.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 6 2006 8:55 utc | 38
The tight election in Mexico could easily result in a near civil war situation. Is anybody watching?
Race Tightens as Vote Tallies are Recounted in Mexico Presidential Election
With nearly 98 percent of the vote tallies recounted, Calderon had 35.65 percent of the vote, while Lopez Obrador had 35.54. It was the first time since counting began early Wednesday that Calderon held the lead. Mexico’s electoral officials said they would not announce any tendencies until the full count was completed, expected later Thursday.
Both campaigns insisted on Wednesday that they would triumph when the final numbers came in, but asked their supporters to refrain from violence whatever the result.
…
Lopez Obrador had led the recount since counting began early Wednesday, at one point leading by 2 percentage points. But ruling party officials said Lopez Obrador had the lead only because more votes had been counted in areas where he was strongest, and they insisted the trend would change. They also accused the candidate’s Democratic Revolution Party of stalling tactics in states where Calderon was strongest, saying it was deliberately trying to give the impression that Lopez Obrador was ahead as the count progressed.
Standard election theft technique involves learning how many votes
must be created (or destroyed) to ensure victory, which, classically,
was accomplished by delayed reporting of results from “outlying districts”.
LBJ or Richard J. Daley could have written Ph.D. dissertations on such
techniques (with LBJ sure to include a reminder note to have the last
54 ghosts vote in alphabetical order). How it is done in an era when
boot-loaders, operating systems and trojan viruses are the preferred vectors of deceit is more recondite, but the basic impulses are unchanged.
I suspect that AMLO really won by a rather wide margin, but will be happy if he manages to prevail at all.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 6 2006 13:21 utc | 40
Make that “reminder not to have the last 54 ghosts vote in alphabetical order.”
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 6 2006 13:22 utc | 41
two good sources i check in on that have been following the election in mexico are the latin america news review and the narco news bulletin
Posted by: b real | Jul 6 2006 15:04 utc | 42
Blackwater employee has “lots to say”; charged
Former Blackwater employee charged with extortion over Iraq death claims
ELIZABETH CITY, North Carolina — A North Carolina woman who claims to have damaging information on four U-S security contractors butchered in Iraq has been charged with extortion.
Laura Holdren-Nowacki has been released on 15-thousand dollars’ bond and is due in court tomorrow in Elizabeth City.
The 35-year-old woman was a fleet vehicle manager for security contractor Blackwater U-S-A, whose clients include the State Department and the military.
The four contract guards were killed and mutilated two years ago in Fallujah in an incident that sparked a bloody three-week siege.
Holdren-Nowacki denies charges she demanded a million dollars from Blackwater by threatening to release damaging documents on the deaths.
She says she will be talking to reporters after her court appearance tomorrow and promises to have a “lot to say.”
Relatives of the four men are suing Blackwater.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 6 2006 15:23 utc | 43
Army charges Lt. Watada with contempt towards president; Faces over seven years military prison
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 6 2006 20:15 utc | 44
watada needs to be defended or as the panthers sd the sky ought to be the limit
they clearly want to break this man & the morality which is at the heart of his resistance
Posted by: r’giap | Jul 7 2006 0:24 utc | 45
Soon will come the time when the line between State law and Military law will be erased as have the systemic erosion of Police/Military…
and it will be civillians charged with ‘contempt towards pResident’.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 7 2006 0:55 utc | 46
Not sure why they shouldn’t charge me with contempt for the President. He’s demonstrated ample contempt for the lives and laws of the American people and, well, fair is fair.
Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 7 2006 6:12 utc | 47
Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines.
“We’ve got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad,” the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, http://www.splcenter.org. “That’s a problem.”
Fighting in Gaza Escalates and Deaths Rise
It was one of the bloodiest days in Gaza since the uprising began in 2000. The death toll varied and the Palestinians provided no official figures. The Associated Press counted at least 21 dead Palestinians, and Reuters 19. One Israeli soldier was reported killed by a sniper. Reuters reported Friday that the militant was killed after an Israeli plane fired at four armed men near the scene of the worst violence from the day before.
Most of the deaths Thursday were in northern Gaza, where after days of sporadic clashes Israeli forces moved south from the destroyed former Israeli settlements to the outskirts of Beit Lahiya.
Interesting and confirms my personal impression here: Poll Shows Bright View of Muslim Integration
The poll, carried out by the Pew Global Attitudes Project this spring in 13 countries, with additional samples of Muslims living in Britain, Germany, France and Spain, indicated that “Muslims are generally positive about conditions” in their countries of residence.
“In fact,” Pew said, “they are more positive than the general publics in all four European countries about the way things are going in their countries.”
Among non-Muslim Europeans, overall attitudes toward Muslims did not worsen and in fact in some ways improved, despite the events of the past year: the July 7 attack in London, which killed 52 people; rioting across France in the autumn by youths, many of Muslim origin; and the rage ignited by Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The survey also found that European Muslims polled largely welcomed the entry of women into modern roles, favored a moderate version of Islam and did not see many or most Europeans as hostile toward Muslims. More French non-Muslims than those polled in a similar survey a year ago said immigration from the Middle East and North Africa was a good thing.
@b:
Actually, in a weird sort of way, that (post #48) is a comfort — it means that the disproportionately horrible and inhuman behavior of U.S. troops in Iraq is matched by a disproportionate influx of horrible and inhuman groups into the military. Of course, it doesn’t mean that the rest of the military is innocent (anyone with half a brain can see that “a few bad apples” doesn’t begin to cover things) any more than it means that the civilian population is getting noticeably less racist because of the drainoff of psychotics — but it explains a lot about the difference between some soldiers and others.
Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | Jul 7 2006 6:50 utc | 51
Looks like people’s suspicions here were right on. Sorry if this has been posted before.
FBI Setup
“Earlier in the day, the FBI admitted that two people working for the agency planted the idea of blowing up government buildings, including and FBI office in Miami, with members of an alleged South Florida terror group known as the Liberty City 7.”
A really funny E.J.Dionne column on the Mexican election: It Couldn’t Happen Here
Let’s be clear: There’s nothing wrong with Mexico’s voters. Close elections happen. The test of a democracy is how a bitter dispute of this sort is resolved. Can it be settled in a way that enhances confidence in the electoral process and the legitimacy of the ultimate winner?
…
Imagine the global outcry if Mexico chose its president indirectly through some sort of electoral college that gave advantage to smaller states over bigger ones and permitted the loser of the popular vote to become president. The world would be merciless in deriding Mexico as a backward place living under undemocratic laws written in the early 19th century. Mexicans can be proud that this won’t happen.
…
L?pez Obrador has had questions about the results in the state of Tabasco. Mr. Calder?n and Mr. L?pez Obrador, please, please make sure that you don’t have some close relative in charge of things down there.
How would it look if the governor of the state was your own brother? What would people think if the top official in charge of elections was your sibling’s partisan ally who made every key decision in your favor?
The American media would go nuts. On Fox, Bill O’Reilly would condemn the sleaze and nepotism while declaring, confidently, “Thank God such a thing could never happen in the United States of America!” CNN’s Lou Dobbs would add a “Broken Ballot Boxes” segment to his long-running series on “Broken Borders.” Mexico, don’t go down that road.
…
Ariel Sharon’s government conjured up every possible measure to drown Palestinians in every aspect of life. It stretched for so long that the world grew used to it. Ehud Olmert’s government, which started out ostensibly dovish, responded to the disappearance of the Israeli soldier in Gaza with shameful haste. What is not understandable is why Israel chose to disable Gaza’s power station and blow the major arteries of infrastructure that are necessary for life. This is Israel’s response to Palestinian attacks that used homemade, less harmful, rockets. Whether Israel’s action is reactionary or not, the nature of their retaliation is going far beyond any reason.
It is already too late for Israel to pretend to be avoiding civilian death. Civilians were compromised by the first attack on Gaza’s infrastructure. Still, Israel has the audacity to boast that it is acting on world opinion that civilians must be spared. Moreover, Israel’s admittance of food and fuel to Gaza in the wake of their initial attack seems humanitarian, but the supplies are far below the minimum requirements of the 1.4 million residents.
Mass destruction and punishment of Palestinians amounts to questionable morals. In future years it will embarrass the state of Israel. It probably already saddens every peace-loving Israeli.
re post #48. sorry if this is a repeat, for some reason i assume i have already posted this, in case i didn’t..
gangs in the military
Posted by: annie | Jul 7 2006 8:15 utc | 55
Something Strange and Beautiful is happening over at Wiki:
I hope each one of you will check it out.
It’s called:
MISSION STATEMENT
Thanks
Posted by: The Editorial Board | Jul 7 2006 12:34 utc | 56
It’s Friday, so it must be Morford.
It is like some sort of virus. It is like some sort of weird and painful rash on your face that makes you embarrassed to walk out the door and so you sit there day after day, waiting for it to go away, slathering on ointment and Bactine and scotch. And yet still it lingers.
Some days the pain is so searing and hot you want to cut off your own head with a nail file. Other days it is numb and pain-free and seemingly OK, to the point where you think it might finally be all gone and you allow yourself a hint of a whisper of a positive feeling, right up until you look in the mirror, and scream.
George W. Bush is just like that.
Everyone I know has had enough. Everyone I know is just about done. There is this threshold of happy deadened disgust, this point where the body simply resigns itself to the pain, a point where the disease, the poison has seeped so deeply into the bones that you just have to laugh and shrug it all off and go for a drink. Or 10.
Posted by: beq | Jul 7 2006 13:44 utc | 58
I always liked Bloody Marys myself.
Don’t know why I thought of Bloody Marys.
Just thoroughly disgusted and fed up, I guess.
Posted by: The Generic Pimpernell | Jul 7 2006 13:55 utc | 59
From the link to Al Gore’s interview with Rolling Stone from the Morford link above…
Was going to snip something but there is too much. Just read.
Posted by: beq | Jul 7 2006 14:24 utc | 61
here are the main links for the southern poverty law ctr rpt on racist extremists in the military
Racist extremists active in U.S. military
and
A Few Bad Men
of course, a very strong argument can be put forth that the entire role of the u.s. military is to propagate/enforce white supremacism – think of the native americans, of latin america, the phillipines, the middle east, and on & on – and that the real hate group goes unrecognized in this report.
Posted by: b real | Jul 7 2006 15:36 utc | 63
here’s some more on that video game simulating an attack on venezuela that pointed out a few weeks back. looks like ego – whoops, i meant bono – is a partner in an investment firm, elevation partners, which works w/ the game company, pandemic studios (named by someone w/ a warped sense of humor obviously), which has subcontracted work from the cia and u.s. army, and is releasing the product mercenaries 2: world in flames. bono’s firm has recently invested $300 million in pandemic.
U2’s Bono Backs Videogame with Venezuela Invasion Theme
Posted by: b real | Jul 7 2006 19:20 utc | 64
Wires: The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday accepted a resolution proposed by the Arab and Muslim block according to which the Council’s inspectors would prepare a report on the Israeli violations of human rights in the territories for the Council’s next session scheduled for September…..In addition, the Israeli violations issue will also be discussed on a permanent basis every time the Council convenes. The next sessions are expected in December and in March, but one-third of the members will be able to summon special discussions, as they did Friday….The resolution called on Israel to “end its military operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” and to “refrain from imposing collective punishment on Palestinian civilians.”
29 for, 11 against, 5 abstentions, 2 absent.
For: Arab block; China, Russia; India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka; Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba, Peru, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador; Zambia, Mali, Mauritius, Senegal, Ghana, South Africa.
Against: Canada, Japan; Czech Repub., Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Poland, Romania, Ukraine.
Abst. Switz, Korea, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mexico.
Comment. Reforming the Human Rights Commission has been effective; slimmer, lighter, more flexible, with more powers awarded members (these were elected btw, that is why Israel and US are not members), real schisms and divisions are showing up. Only India’s vote is not aligned, a glance at the Indian Press showed some tortuous, convoluted explanations. The Arab block must have known the “West” would vote against. The official reasons for the No and Abst. votes are the ‘unbalanced’ nature of the resolution – the Palestinians appear only as victims, and the one poor Israeli kidnapped soldier is not mentioned at all. Now, these things have their own momentum, and votes can be cast for non-political, procedural / tactical reasons, sure. However, coupled with the extremely weak (not to say non-existent) positions of EU Gvmts, calling on “restraint” (uptake of a US concept, too funny) and ample mention of emblems (kidnap!! oh the horror!!) I think the days when resolutions condemning Israel were voted Yay practically unanimously are gone. The sides are ligning up …Europeans should wake up. Fat hope.
About 6 weeks back (?) back both Bolton and Rice stopped their UN bashing and objections to this council. It was a definite policy change.
Posted by: Noirette | Jul 7 2006 19:20 utc | 65
Meanwhile it’s really getting deep:
HIGH TIDE IN LOWER MANHATTEN
Posted by: TGO | Jul 8 2006 3:08 utc | 66
@TGO – that “terrorist plan” – blow up a tunnel in NewYork to flood Manhatten something is as stupid as it gets. Looks like the Lebanese “squeezed” someone so long that he started to talk bullshit.
last night this bogus ny subway bombing plan was all over every station of the msm. what total bs. especially when they started asking, have they ever been to this country? was there any evidence this was past any planning stage? then the bs about how we could have learned a lot more if the investigation had been allowed to continue but because the nypost deemed to take it upon themselves to report the story so much was lost, all the potential terrorists we could have found if not for the bad press.
what a piece of bs. all this happened years ago. just fear fear fear.
Posted by: annie | Jul 8 2006 16:48 utc | 68