Obama throws the Rev under the BUS

NO! Wright threw him under the bus when he accused Obama of being ” a politician” as if Obama would say anything to get elected. I think this is a perfect opening for Mr. Obama to exploit the difference between his ideals and those of the Black Liberation Theology to the american people. 

Fallujah jail challenges US and US does nothing

The U.S. military says it is taking steps to alleviate conditions at the Iraqi-run city jail in Fallujah after recent visitors found a filthy, overcrowded facility where prisoners had to provide their own food. The episode demonstrates how far Iraq’s judicial and penal institutions still have to go under U.S. tutelage before they meet minimally acceptable standards.

Lt. Col. Michael Callanan told United Press International that shortly after an inspection of the jail by the new commander of coalition forces in western Iraq, Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, U.S. forces had stepped in to “advise and assist” the Iraqis with the management of the jail.

Callanan, the point man for the U.S. military on rule-of-law issues in Anbar province, which includes Fallujah, told UPI in a phone interview Monday that cash from a special commander’s contingency fund known as CERP was being used to provide food in the jails in Fallujah and in the provincial capital Ramadi.

“They are being fed now,” said Callanan of the prisoners, who until recently had to provide their own food or starve.

Iraqi contractors had been hired to feed “the majority of the prisoners” in both city jails.

He said “similar measures” were being taken by local commanders with CERP funds at the other 27 smaller jails in the province. In Ramadi, he said, the military was transitioning from using contractors to “providing food … and an empty kitchen” to a women’s volunteer group that would feed the inmates.

He described the CERP contracts as a temporary measure implemented for humanitarian reasons “in order to bridge the gap” until long-term arrangements were put in place by the Iraqi government.

Establishing the rule of law and functioning judicial institutions is a priority for Kelly, who took over earlier this year as the commander of Multi-National Force-West, the coalition military command in the province, Callanan said.

U.S. military strategy in Iraq involves standing up robust security institutions that enjoy the confidence of the local population. In Anbar province and other Sunni-dominated parts of the country, U.S. forces have established so-called awakening councils, militias funded by the United States and led by tribal and other local leaders, many of whom are former insurgents.

Callanan said the U.S. military was promoting the use of two Baath Party-era legal frameworks, the 1969 Iraqi penal code and the 1971 order on criminal proceedings.

But the infrastructure needed “an overhaul,” he acknowledged. “Anbar (province) is badly in need of a place where long-term convicted prisoners can be held,” he said.

The United States was building such a facility, he said, at a cost of $24 million, and it would house 1,500 convicted prisoners and would open in spring 2009.

He said another new facility in Fallujah, for pretrial detainees, would also open around that time.

A similar facility, a provincial transfer jail under the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, opened in Ramadi recently. “People say it’s the best jail in Iraq,” said Callanan.

That may be a low bar. Kelly’s visit to the Fallujah jail followed a report on conditions at the jail by independent journalist Michael Totten. Totten found a facility built to hold 120 prisoners housing 900 without even minimal provision for sanitation or hygiene.

Wikileaks.org, a Web site that aims to provide a secure way whistleblowers can “reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations” and says it favors government transparency, provided UPI with what it said was a note written following Kelly’s visit.

The authenticity of the note could not be independently verified, but the organization has been a reliable source of document leaks in the past, and U.S. military officials did not contest its account of conditions at the jail.

The note describes “unbelievable overcrowding, total lack of anything approaching even minimal levels of hygiene for human beings, no food, little water, no ventilation,” and says, “There is zero support from the (Iraqi) government for any of the jails in Anbar. No funds, food or medical support has been provided from any ministry.”

Callanan said the problems at the Fallujah jail were exacerbated because the facility housed both convicted prisoners, the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, and pretrial detainees, who came under the Ministry of the Interior.

“It is not clear cut,” he said of responsibility for the jail. “There are overlapping responsibilities.”

Callanan said the baseline for jail conditions was low in Iraq. “What is normal in Iraq? … We had people tell us it is normal for prisoners to have to fend for themselves.”

He said his objective while the new facilities were being built was to train and work with the Iraqi police, so that when the new buildings were opened, they could be run according to international norms and standards.

 

MICT blocklist 11 Jan 2007

Thai website censorship jumps by more than 500% since coup!

The January 11, 2007 official blocklist contains 13,435 websites, an increase of more than 500% over the 2,475 sites blocked by MICT’s 13 October 2006 list, compiled following Thailand’s military coup d’etat on 19 September.

In addition to this figure, the Royal Thai Police make public that they block more than 32,500 websites directly; a further unspecified number are blocked at Thailand’s Internet gateway by the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT). No identification of websites blocked has ever been disclosed to the public nor do these government agencies disclose which criteria they use to block.

The military coup led by Thai Army General Sonthi Boonyaratglin considered Internet censorship to be of such high priority that he signed his fifth order on 20 September to require web-blocking of sites critical of the coup. This was implemented by appointing Dr. Sitthichai Pokaiudom ICT Minister and Official Censor of the Military Coup.

MICT blocks websites by “requesting” all Thai ISPs to block, under the terms of the Telecommunications Act, from a list it compiles periodically. “Informal” email “requests” for blocking are then made to each ISP.

There are presently more than 50 commercial ISPs in Thailand and around 10 non-profit ISPs. The Act requires ISPs to comply with all government requests or face loss of operating licence or other punitive sanctions such as restriction of bandwidth.

This blocklist has not been made public since 2004 when 1,275 websites were blocked. However, it must be provided to Thai ISPs for implementation.

MICT’s 2007 budget is five billion eleven million Thai baht (THB5,011,000,000). It would appear Internet censorship is the only function of this Ministry of “Information” yet MICT discloses no information to the Thai taxpayer.

Chapter Three of the 1997 “People’s” Constitution of Thailand clearly protected freedom of communication and expression which, of course, includes the Internet. The coup has scrapped the Constitution but created a vacuum of law while a new Constitution is being discussed. It would appear the 1997 Constitution remains the foundation of Thai law until another is voted in its place.

Currently Midnight University has the only website in Thailand protected under Thai law by an Administrative Court restraining order pending their lawsuit. It should be noted that it is hardly unusual for such cases to take well over a decade to be decided by Thai courts.

In the wake of September 19, many Thai Web discussion boards and other fora were blocked or ordered to self-censor, stifling freedom of expression and freedom of association. 19sep.org, a site critical of the Thailand’s coup, has been added to MICT’s blocklist for the sixth time.

MICT’s blocklist shows a frightening increase in thought control and abrogation of civil liberties and human rights in Thailand. Although website censorship was initiated under the deposed Thai Rak Thai government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the new military government of Thailand has taken all of us to a new dimension of repression.

Retrieved from “https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/MICT_blocklist_11_Jan_2007“

Classified documents from Guantanamo captive’s Combatant Status Review Tribunals

In mid 2004 shortly after the United States Supreme Court made its ruling in Rasul v. Bush the United States Department of Defense set up Combatant Status Review Tribunals to convene to consider the combatant status of captives held in it Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.

READ ON: WIKILEAKS

Why can’t Hillary Clinton close the deal?

Everybody in the MSM is asking why can’t Barak close the deal? Ansewer: He’s WON! He doesn’t need to close anything, it’s another false argument created by Clinton and the MSM. The Main stream Media wants this race to continue so they don’t have to report on real issues like Torture, Iraq, theft, war crimes i could go on for hours. Barak Obama has run a superb campaigne and has won more votes and delegates which makes it virtually impossiable for HRC to win, unless the SUPER DUPER delegates overturn it.

Addington, Gonzales Witnessed Gitmo Interrogations In 2002; Approved Of ‘Whatever Needs To Be Done’»

Last month, ABC News revealed that President Bush’s most senior advisers approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics. Days later, Bush confirmed to ABC he “approved” of the tactics.

In a forthcoming book, British international law professor Phillippe Sands further documents how the most extreme interrogation techniques — including stress, hooding, noise, nudity, and “dogs” — came directly from the White House and Pentagon.
Sands reveals that Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s lawyer Jim Haynes traveled to Guantanamo in 2002, witnessed an interrogation, and sent approval back to Washington. The “driving individual was Mr. Addington, who was obviously the man in control,” Sands said:

There was an extraordinary meeting held in September 2002, just before the techniques were to go up the chain of command, so to speak. [Gonzales, Addington, and Haynes] descended on Guantanamo, met with the combatant commander there Mike Dunlavey, watched some interrogations, and as I was told by Dunlavey and by his lawyer Diane Beaver, basically sent out the signal ‘do whatever needs to be done.’

Sands also explained how Gen. Richard Myers, then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, was cut out of the loop by Rumsfeld. Myers did not know the administration ditched the Geneva Conventions and made use of techniques prohibited by the Army Field Manual.
Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, explained the implications of these revelations:

Haynes, Feith, Yoo, Bybee, Gonzalez and — at the apex — Addington, should never travel outside the US, except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel. They broke the law; they violated their professional ethical code. In future, some government may build the case necessary to prosecute them in a foreign court, or in an international court.
Sands also notes that the interrogation records of al Qaeda suspect Mohammed al-Qahtani — the subject of the 2002 meeting at Guantanamo with Gonzales, Addington, and Haynes — were “mysteriously lost.” Cameras that “run 24 hours a day at the prison were set to automatically record over their contents, the US military admitted in court papers.”
Beaver added that the TV show 24, specifically Jack Bauer “gave people lots of ideas.” “We saw [24] on cable. … It was hugely popular.” “She believed the series contributed to an environment in which those at Guantánamo were encouraged to see themselves as being on the frontline – and to go further than they otherwise might,” Sands writes

Ashcroft Compares Waterboarding To Being ‘Interviewed By Jon Stewart’

Yesterday, former attorney general John Ashcroft spoke at St. John’s University on “Leadership in Challenging Times.” In his speech, Ashcroft aggressively defended the Bush administration’s policies on the Iraq war, wiretapping, and interrogation. At one point, he “joked” about waterboarding, comparing the torture to being interviewed by Jon Stewart:

Going to a high school dance, having to listen to loud music, to me that’s torture. I was on the Daily Show once. I was interviewed by Jon Stewart. That was torture.

Ashcroft appeared on The Daily Show on Oct. 18, 2006. Is he saying that he would rather have traded places with a detainee and been waterboarded that night? During a November 2007 speech at the University of Colorado, Ashcroft also claimed that he was willing to be waterboarded: “The things that I can survive, if it were necessary to do them to me, I would do.”

In addition to Ashcroft, conservatives have repeatedly tried to make light of waterboarding in order to downplay the severity of the tactic:

– GWEN IFILL: Do you think that waterboarding, as I described it, constitutes torture?
SEN. KIT BOND: There are different ways of doing it. It’s like swimming, freestyle, backstroke. [12/11/07]

– “At one moment, bursting into laughter, he [Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)] exuberantly explains why, after ‘a short period of waterboarding to find out what they did in their absence,’ he would take back some of the staffers who fled his campaign at its low point.” [2/25/08]

“I’m finding just out how long I can go sleep deprived. You know, running for office is sort of like being waterboarded, I think.” [Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, 2/16/08]

“And I see, when the Democrats are talking about torture…they talk about sleep deprivation. I mean, on that theory, I’m getting tortured running for president of the United States. That’s plain silly. That’s silly.” [Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, 10/24/07]

“It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological.” [Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), 2/15/08]

Despite their braggadocio, it doesn’t appear that any of these conservatives have actually been waterboarded. Those who have, say it is clearly torture.

Obama v Pope

Presidential candidate Barak Obama held an event in Philadelphia, Pa and 35, 000 people attended. The Pope on the other hand held a youth event today and only 25, 000 people attended. What the press in all there adulation of the Pope fails to report is, it was the current Pope who worked to cover up the sex scandal by moving clergy and private settlements.

Internal Justice Dept. Investigation Includes Yoo Torture Memo

Just how bad were John Yoo’s now-infamous torture memos?

After numerous calls from Congress for the DoJ to get digging, the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility told Congress in February that it is busy investigating Yoo’s infamous August, 2002 torture memo. That one, signed by then Office of Legal Counsel chief Jay Bybee, limited the definition of torture to physical pain “equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.” It was the administration’s so-called “golden shield” which permitted the CIA to use its most aggressive interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding.

And then in March of 2003 came Yoo’s memo broadly authorizing the use of torture by military interrogators on unlawful combatants. Now OPR has told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) that it will be investigating that memo, too.

It is far short of a criminal investigation. OPR’s job is to police whether the Department’s lawyers behave professionally, and so in this case, OPR’s chief Marshall Jarrett has informed Congress that the investigation will be covering “whether the legal advice contained in those memoranda was consistent with the professional standards that apply to Department of Justice attorneys.”

So the question for OPR will be whether Yoo came to his roundly-denounced conclusions in a professional, ethical manner. OPR’s investigations are usually not publicly released, but Jarrett wrote that “OPR will consider releasing to Congress and the public a non-classified summary of our final report.” There’s no telling when that would be.

There are plenty of grumbles that the limited scope and independence of OPR’s investigation (OPR reports to the attorney general) mean that it won’t tell us enough and won’t result in any changes. And Attorney General Michael Mukasey has already made it clear that no matter how deeply flawed an Office of Legal Counsel memo might have been (or be), anyone who relied on it “could not be the subject of a prosecution.”

Feds to collect DNA from every person they arrest

Feds to collect DNA from every arrested criminal and store samples in a government database

 

The federal government wants to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone who is arrested by a federal law enforcement agency. That would be a departure from the current practice of collecting samples only from convicted felons.

The government also wants to collect DNA samples from foreigners who are being detained, whether they have been charged or not. Justice Department spokesman Erik Albin says the DNA would be collected through a cheek swab.

Expanding the DNA database, known as CODIS, raises civil liberties concerns about the potential for misuse of such personal information, such as family ties and genetic conditions.