One Malcolm Nance, who has personal experience on the issue, explains why Waterboarding is Torture… Period.

The Democrats and the Democratic presidential candidates seem to be against applying such obviously illegal and amoral methods.

That is fine.

But can someone please ask them how they will handle those U.S. people who recently ordered, supervised and applied such illegal torture?

Under the standards of the Nuremberg Trials all three of these groups should be prosecuted, jailed and, under U.S. law, probably put to death.

What is Obama’s, Hillary’s and John Edwards’ stand on this issue?

Rabei Osman was judged guilty in Italy on Monday and not guilty in
Spain on Wednesday. This based on nearly identical charges and on the same evidence, wiretapped
discussions in Arabic. How could this
happen?

The Spanish trial over the Madrid 2004 terror bombings ended today. Some of the accused were convicted, the alleged mastermind, Osman, was acquitted:

Rabei Osman, an Egyptian accused of helping orchestrate the attacks, was acquitted. Osman, who is in jail in Italy, had allegedly bragged in a wiretapped phone conversation that the massacre was his idea. But his defense attorneys argued successfully that the tapes were mistranslated.

Osman, a unskilled worker who had been living in Germany, Spain and Italy, was convicted to 10 years in an Italian court for ‘subversive association aimed at international terrorism’, a new charge introduced in Italy after 9/11. Two days ago an Italian appeal court upheld that conviction.

An report about the Spanish trial explains:

Cont. reading: Monday: Guilty – Wednesday: Not Guilty

Little do I write about the U.S. presidential (presidency?) race. Everytime I try, I find that there is nearly nothing to work from. Writing from abroad my assumption was that I simply don’t ‘get’ the real stuff.

But now I read this:

In all, 63% of the campaign stories focused on political and tactical aspects of the campaign. That is nearly four times the number of stories about the personal backgrounds of the candidates (17%) or the candidates’ ideas and policy proposals (15%). And just 1% of stories examined the candidates’ records or past public performance, the study found.

Instead of policy proposal discussions, the available news and analysis is about hair-cuts and lapel pins. The blogs fret about campaign slogans, consultants and hotel rates.

Sorry, I can not digest such stuff. It’s just package with no content.

Cont. reading: ‘Politik’ and the Presidential Candidate Race

In 2008 the U.S. will slip into recession. This will likely kill any chances the Republicans might otherwise have in the 2008 election. But a recession could probably be avoided by starting another war. The argument:

Cont. reading: To Save The Economy – Bomb Iran?

The propaganda campaign against Iran is reaching a new state. It is marked by the use of obvious outright lies instead of just murky assertions. According to AFP, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino today  said about Iran:

"This is a country that is enriching and reprocessing uranium and the reason that one does that is to lead towards a nuclear weapon"

There are two easy provable lies in these few words:

Cont. reading: Reprocessing Air in A Vacuum

(From the masters a fine how propaganda works to create a certain slant. Check the link at the end of the piece.)

Pro-Administration Sites Gain Influence

By Anton Troianovski and Peter Finn
Pravda Foreign News
28. October 2007

WASHINGTON — After ignoring the Internet for years to focus on controlling traditional media such as television and newspapers, the White House and its allies are turning their attention to cyberspace, which remains a haven for critical reporting and vibrant discussion in America’s dwindling public sphere.

Cont. reading: White House Seeks To Extend Its Reach in Cyberspace

Please let us know some news & views …

MoA commentator Rick writes:

A few weeks ago, I mentioned here at MOA about our little dog Pearl getting in a fight with some unknown animal. I recently purchased an automatic motion sensor camera to place in the woods behind our house. The camera is water-resistant and will take still or moving pictures, night or day.

I often put some corn out for the deer to keep them away from all the hunters this time of year,  but I wondered what else comes around.

(bigger)

The night pictures [below the fold] are not that clear, but if you look close, you can see some deer keeping their distance from a raccoon and also a red fox that comes by every night.

I have seen a big bear roaming around here, but haven’t got a picture yet. Maybe I will try some peanut butter next – bears love peanut butter!

Cont. reading: ‘Bears Love Peanut Butter’

A scandal erupts around a French non-governmental organization that was caught trafficking children from Chad to France:

More than 100 children are in the custody of Chadian social services after members of a non-governmental organisation who said they were "rescuing" them from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region were arrested on their way to France.

The NGO involved here, L’Arche de Zoé, was founded and is led by one Eric Breteau, now imprisoned in Chad, who in most reports is characterized as a "former fireman".

That’s an interesting ‘humanitarian’ detail – I have a better one.

Breteau may well have been a fireman at one time or another. More importantly he has experience as a NGO leader. Back in 2004 he was the president of the French Association for SUVs.

On June 8, the Paris City Council fired the first shot in voting a "wish to limit the use of" SUVs in the French capital because, according to the Paris Green Party, they produce "four times more carbon dioxide than other cars".
[…]
The Paris City Council’s move brought an immediate and angry response from the president of the French Association of SUVs, Eric Breteau.

"SUVs have the right to drive everywhere, just like other vehicles," Breteau thundered, and denounced the Paris initiative as "whimsical and crude propaganda."

Really the same Eric Breteau who’s NGO is ‘rescues’ children in Darfur?

Yes. From the tsunami site www.indonesia-relief.org (google cache) we indeed learn:

Eric Breteau, President of the French Federation of 4×4 has also merged their tsunami projects to give birth to a more efficient Zoes Ark.

The president of a gas guzzler club is now leading a ‘humanitarian’ NGO which ‘rescues’, i.e. robs and sells, children, refugees of a resource war. It’s hard to beat such cynicism. Then again –  no current media report mentions it. A former fireman is more ‘humanitarian’.

A bit more on the Chad case:

Cont. reading: The Kidnapper NGO

Will the Iranian establishment dump Ahmedinejad to defuse the U.S. threat of war?

In the ‘western’ media Ahmedinjad has been build up as the ‘new Hitler’, the ‘ultimate villain’ who ‘threatens genocide on Israel’ and ‘denies the holocaust’ and eats small children.

What would happen to this hate campaign if the Iranian supreme leader Khamenei takes that special toy figure away?

In a recent Asia Times piece Pepe Excobar wrote:

On Sunday, hundreds of students protested at the Amir-Kabir University in Tehran, calling for "Death to the dictator".

The wily, ultimate pragmatist Hashemi Rafsanjani, now leader of the Council of Experts and in practice a much more powerful figure than Ahmadinejad, took no time to publicly reflect that "we can’t bend people’s thoughts with dictatorial regimes".

This week, the Supreme Leader himself intervened, saying, "I approve of this government, but this does not mean that I approve of everything they do." Under the currently explosive circumstances, this also amounts to a political bombshell.

Now the former Iranian President Khatami openly criticizes Ahmedinejad as lying about the state of the economy.

Based on the Escobar piece commentator not-so CluelessJoe comes up with a conclusion:

The Western powers are being played like the bunch of rank amateurs they truly are.

It’s just brilliant.

Basically, the mullahs are saying that Ahmadinejad acts like an autocrat, that he’s bordering dictatorship. Which is exactly what the war party says here around.

Soon, they’ll just move to remove Ahmadinejad and his government, his guys, claiming that it’s time to end his reign and bring freedom to Iran. And what will the West be able to do, when they’ve stupidly claimed that the president has the power and is the threat, when he clearly is there just for the show.

He’s the fall guy that has been set up. He’ll fall from grace and from power.

And the guys in charge of Iran will be able to show they are bringing more freedom to Iranian people, will make a few decisions for the show, and than will remain in power and be able to go on with the plan, without much trouble since BushCo won’t anymore be able to claim Iran is led by a madman who wants to nuke Israel.

In a few weeks Ahmedinejad may develop serious health problems which unfortunately will require his immediate resignation. Or he may recognize that he really needs to spend more time with his family.

Soon another semi-puppet would be found to take his job and ‘western’ heat. Rinse, repeat …

But today Escobar notes with regard to the new sanctions:

By stretching its "war on terror" logic to actually naming names, the Bush administration has boxed itself into no other option than regime change in Iran.

‘Regime change’ is aimed at people above Ahmedinejad’s pay level.

The plot to replace him now is smart, but is it sufficient?

At the TPM Café M.J. Rosenberg writes about War on Iran in relation to the Dem candidate talkshow next Tuesday. He starts off with this:

Today’s new sanctions on Iran clearly elevate chances that the United States is going to find itself in a war with Iran sooner or later.
…

That’s a sad poor excuse for killing people.

The United States is not just "going to find itself at war" by some mysterious chance.

A war on Iran would be a conscious and willful act by the United States and its people.

Any honest future review of such a war, should it be waged, will find:

• It was started based on various nefarious motives, mainly collective greed.
• It was in no way an act of ‘self defense’.
• It was long announced and semi-secretly waged for several years before its hot phase.
• It was discussed extensively beforehand, on all relevant levels and in all U.S. media.
• It was ordered by the President of the United States elected by the people of the United States.
• It had the expressed approval of a majority of the elected representatives of the people of the United States.
• It was supported by the majority of the United States media.
• It was supported by the most of the candidates for the next presidential election.
• There never was any significant protest by the people of the United States against such a war.
• It was an unprovoked illegal war of aggression – the ultimate international crime.
• It was a consciously and willful act by the United States and its people.

This crude concept called democracy, of which the U.S. is so proud, is not a one way street. A country attacking another one doesn’t just wake up "finding itself at war". A country, and its people, wage war.

They are responsible for doing so.

Ten Senate Democrats sent a letter to Michael Mukasey, Bush’s nominee for attorney general.

They ask him to ‘clarify’ his position on water-boarding. Mukasey said he doesn’t know if making someone believe s/he will immediately die amounts to torture.

The Democrats letter is totally besides the real point. What Mukasey thinks about water-boarding is irrelevant. Only relevant is his opinion on presidential powers. As WaPo reported:

Mukasey suggested that the president can ignore a law, including the surveillance act, if it unduly impinges on his constitutional authority as commander in chief during wartime.

If the president has the priviledge to decide the issue of lawfullness himself, and Mukasey obviously believes so, he as attorney general has no basis to hinder the president to act outside of the law.

Even if Mukasey would believe that water-boarding is forbidden by law, the ‘right’ of the president to disregard that law would supersede Mukasey’s personal legal opinion on torture.

So why are various ‘liberal’ op-eds and editorials pressing the water-boarding point? Why are the Democrats writing letters with questions about water-boarding and not about presidential powers?

It’s a diversion. They want to get this small false ‘victory’ before bending over and confirming Mukasey as AG.

A real fight would be about the alleged power of a president to fudge the law of the land whenever he likes to. Everything else is kabuki and a sorry excuse for lacking spine.

‘Where there is smoke there is fire,’ the saying goes. But in theaters, movies and international politics smoke is sometimes created to simply pretend the existance of fire.

Such is likely the case with the illegal Israeli air attack on Syria that some ‘interested sides’ camouflaged as ‘independent experts’ peddle as having been targeted on something ‘nuclear.’

Famed reporter Robin Wright writes in today’s WaPo: Photographs Said to Show Israeli Target Inside Syria

Independent experts have pinpointed what they believe to be the Euphrates River site in Syria that was bombed by Israel last month, and satellite imagery of the area shows buildings under construction roughly similar in design to a North Korean reactor capable of producing nuclear material for one bomb a year, the experts say.

Cont. reading: Smoke Over Syria

Turkey started an offense against PKK fighters in northern Iraq. This is unlikely to solve anything as long as Barzani, the head of the Kurdish area of Iraq, and its population are supporting the PKK. This conflict will likely expand into an bombardment of north Iraq by the Turkish air force, hitting infrastructure and political targets. This will again solve nothing but could possibly even lead to some skirmishes with the U.S. military.

Cont. reading: War from the Mediterranean to Kashmir

Will these Universities be concerned about ‘balance’ and allow a Zionofascism Awareness Week on their campuses just as they allow a Islamofascism Awareness Week?

Politically the first issue seems more relevant to me.

To stay aware I started to list The Daily Palestinian – simple self explaining news mostly picked from the Jewish defamer site Haaretz. It is linked on the left side of the MoA homepage under ‘Specials’.

Also – I’m looking for an ‘anti-apartheid’ and ‘boycott Israel’ sticker for my car. Does anyone know of a good design I could buy or copy to make one myself?

Open thread … news & views …

Back home from my too rare rides through the north-German country side. Indeed, the landscape is changing.

Folks there build windmills to repel elephants – thousands of huge windmills. The newest rage is to tear down the smaller ones even when they are only ten years old. They get replaced with bigger windmills – "repower" is the word. Aside from being better in holding off pachyderms, the new types generate about ten times more windy energy than the older ones.

Additionally every farmstable which has a roof somewhat towards south is now packed with sun collectors. Farmers literary rent their roofs away. My brother plastered our parents old house, a bigger business building, with 2,000 square feet of collectors and the electricity he sells will recoup the investment within 8 years. After those the panels will generate safe net income of several thousand Euros per year.

Lacking big powerstations, the area I visited has always been an electricity importer. Now the regional electricity utility is exporting lots of megawatts to other parts of the country.

On the way home I listened to a radio interview with the chief economist of Deutsche Bank. He expects the German export boom to continue despite a looming recession and pointed to the global run for alternative energies. Asked if a higher Euro would be drag on German exports of windmills and the like to the U.S. and elsewhere he said flat out: "No. They can’t buy this stuff anywhere else. We are two generations ahead of everyone else on this."

Fine with me – now can we please stop exporting arms?

There are some interesting aspects in how decentralized electricity generation effects energy transportation and the general architecture of grids. ‘Balancing the grid’, i.e. the just-in-time on-demand control of electricity generation, needs to be more localized and must involve many more generating sources than before.

While these changes are very desireable, energy monopols that own big powerstations plus major parts of the grid are holding things back. There is a case to be made that electricity grids should be state owned monopols and their architecture determined by energy security in the widest sense (i.e. no wars for oil), not by profane profitability.

But now, after two long nights, I need some rest and I may pick on that issue in a later post.

The pachyderms still haunt me so I decided to get away from them and spend the weekend elsewhere.

While I’m on the road, please use this thread for news, views or whatever you like to discuss …

Wednesday night I woke several times to what particularly sounded like elephants trampling right outside.

So yesterday I went to a pet shop and bought some repellent. The neighbor’s cat helped to distributed it throughout the garden.

Last night was quiet so the stuff seems to work as advertised. But it’s raining today and I am not sure about the effectiveness of the product when it’s wet.

What am I to do now?

The bomb attack on Benazir Bhutto’s convoy during her arrival in Karachi will not be the last attempt to derail the U.S. sponsored ‘reforms’ of the Pakistani dictatorship. There is more to come from various sides.

One wonders who the perpetrators of this one were and backs them.

Officially it will of course be ‘Al Qaeda’ and as in Casablanca the authorities will ’round up the usual suspects.’

But there are many others possibilities of who might have had interest in staging this attack:

• Musharraf only agreed to the deal to allow Bhutto as new Prime Minister under heavy U.S. pressure. Without Bhutto his future powers would be less restricted.
• While Bhutto was allowed to return to Pakistan, her primary contender
  Nawaz Sharif was denied entry to the country. (Bhutto is by heritage
  the representative of the landowners. Sharif is the candidate of
  industry and bazzari interests. Both have been prime ministers twice
  and both were exiled after being disposed by the military due to
  corruption accusations.) Without Bhutto, Sharif might be seen and implemented as an alternative.
• The military intelligence service ISI has its hands in various games and certainly very close relations to the Pashtun tribes in Waziristan and their radical guests from other countries. ISI, or at least part of it, sees Afghanistan as the Pakistani hinterland and wants to keep influence there. Their instrument are the tribes and the religious-driven part of those known as Taliban (first institutionalized under Bhutto). A new Prime Minister Bhutto supporting U.S. interest would not be friendly to ISI’s support for the Afghani resistance.
• There could be Indian interests in all of this as India and Pakistan are always in latent strive over Kaschmir. I could not find anything about Bhutto’s current view on this. If someone has information on this please let us know.
• Lastly a cynic might assume that Bhutto herself arranged this to amplify the support she will need.

Whoever it was – Pakistan will certainly stay under the curse of ‘interesting times’.

It was funny to watch the ‘western’ press glorifying Bhutto over the last year. The media picture of her is certainly managed. Every report describes her now ended exile as ‘self-imposed’. There were serious corruption charges and threats of imprisonment against her when she left the country. ‘Self- impossed’ describes a rather different reality.

Bhutto’s primary asset in the view of ‘western’ politicians is probably her education in various British and U.S. elite universities. On other issues a bet on her is just as risky as one on Musharraf or Sharif or any combination of those three.