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CNN reporter says bad things about the TSA, gets hassled every time he flies
CNN reporter Drew Griffin reported on the TSA's 1,000,000+ name watchlist of "potential terrorists," and now his name seems to have been added to the list. The TSA denies it, but Griffin is held up every time he flies, and the airlines tell his that it's because he's on the list:
"Coincidentally, this all began in May, shortly after I began a series of investigative reports critical of the TSA. Eleven flights now since May 19. On different airlines, my name pops up forcing me to go to the counter, show my identification, sometimes the agent has to make a call before I get my ticket," Griffin reported. "What does the TSA say? Nothing, at least nothing on camera. Over the phone a public affairs worker told me again I'm not on the watch list, and don't even think that someone in the TSA or anyone else is trying to get even."
The TSA, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, said Griffin's name wasn't even on the watch list, and the agency blamed the airlines for the delays the reporter experienced. The airlines, on the other hand, said they were simply following a list provided by TSA. CNN reporter Drew Griffin reported on the TSA's 1,000,000+ name watchlist of "potential terrorists," and now his name seems to have be... more -
Former Gitmo prosecutor says trials rigged
Air Force Col. Morris D. Davis, who resigned last year after two years as chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, today described the military commissions system as fatally “tainted” by politics and designed to produce guilty verdicts, no matter what the costs.
The possibility of the system delivering “credible verdicts is doubtful,” Davis said Tuesday in a remarkable interview on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show.
“The process has been so tainted, such a black eye to the country, that we have to make every effort possible to have an open trial…
“I’m afraid that what has happened, though, is that we’ve had a rush, in order to get things done before the election, rather than taking the time — and getting evidence declassified in order to have an open trial is a frustrating, time consuming process, but in my view a necessary step if these things are going to have credibility.
Morris said the politicization of the system began at the top, with the appointment of Susan Crawford, a “political appointee” with no time in uniform, to run the military commissions.
Morris also said that Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartman, senior legal advisor to the convening authority, “broke the law” by exercizing command influence on the proceedings.
“Most people were watching to see what DoD was going to do about it, to see if he’d be fired. But instead they charged six more detainees and pressed ahead.”
Morris also said that on Jan. 2, 2007, two hours after President Bush withdrew the nomination of DoD General Counsel Jim Haynes, implicated in torture policy memos, to be a federal judge, Haynes called him up to demand the quick prosecution of Australian David Hicks, a Guantanamo inmate who has since been freed.
”How quickly can you charge David Hicks?” Haynes said, according to Morris.
“At that time we had no statute in place, no convening authority for military commisions, no regulations for military commissions. The major pieces were not in place, and I’m having to deal with the general cousel who’s asking how soon we can charge David Hicks.”
Haynes compared the Guantanamo proceedings to the Nurenburg trials of Nazi officials at the end of World War Two. But when Morris noted that those trials had also rendered aquittals, Haynes expoloded.
“Acquittals? We’re not going to have any acquittals,” Haynes said, according to Morris. “We’ve been holding these guys for years. How could you explain that if we had acquittals? We’ve gotta have convictions.”
Morris said there was no doubt in his mind that Salim Hamdan, on trial now, was far more than a cluless chaffeur for Osama bin Laden. But the “black eye” the proceedings have earned will taint his conviction.
link to the audio tape http://wamu.org/audio/dr/08/07/r1080722-20643.asx Air Force Col. Morris D. Davis, who resigned last year after two years as chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, today described the military... more -
Barack on Iraq policy
In Washington, D.C. last week, before heading to the middle east, Barack Obama gave a speech on Iraq policy.
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Democrats voted for FISA out of fear
It was not the fear of terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists that motivated Barack Obama, many Democratic senators and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to grant President George W. Bush expanded powers to wiretap Americans in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Instead, it was the fear of Republican campaign operatives who paralyze Democratic lawmakers with these words: "My Democratic opponent is weak on terrorism."
The advice that Washington wise men give to Democratic incumbents is that, even if you think it is wrong, vote for the president's anti-terrorism bills or the Republicans will do to you what they did to Max Cleland. A decorated Vietnam War hero, Cleland lost his seat in the U.S. Senate in 2002 when Georgia lawyer Saxby Chambliss ran ads declaring Cleland was soft on fighting terrorism.
Although it was six years ago, the shadow of Chambliss ads still looms large over the 21 Democratic senators, including the party's presumptive presidential nominee, who voted last week to loosen court checks on government wiretaps. It was not the fear of terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists that motivated Barack Obama, many Democratic senators and House Sp... more -
Obama to spend night in Afghanistan
Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, met with American forces and, according to a U.S. official, is expected to meet Sunday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was visiting the southern Asian nation before he embarks on a tour of the Middle East and Europe, a trip aimed at boosting his foreign policy credentials.
The trip, which comes four months ahead of the presidential election, marks Obama's first visit to Afghanistan.
On Saturday, the senator from Illinois traveled to eastern Afghanistan to visit Americans forces under NATO's Regional Command East. Obama is accompanied by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska and Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island.
The senators met service members at Jalalabad airfield in Nangarhar province. The governor of Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Shirzai -- formerly the governor of Kandahar province -- also met the senators at the air base. Shirzai and Obama embraced briefly at the end of the meeting. VideoWatch Obama's visit to Jalalabad »
Upon arrival at Bagram Air Base, the senators were briefed by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, commanding general of the Regional Command East.
Ahead of the trip to Afghanistan, the senators stopped in Kuwait to visit U.S. troops, said Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs. They left Washington on Thursday.
In Kuwait, the senators visited Camp Arifjan for about two hours to meet with U.S. Army Central leadership, take a brief tour of the base and talk with soldiers, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Nutter said.
They met with about 1,000 military members at a gymnasium, and Obama played basketball with some soldiers before conducting a meet-and-greet there which included photo opportunities, Nutter said.
Following the events at the the gymnasium, they met with Lt. Gen. Jim Lovelace, the U.S. Army Central Commander, and senior leadership who gave them an overview of the command, Nutter said.
Obama spoke briefly to a pool reporter about his trip just before leaving Washington.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what the situation on the ground is," Obama said. "I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense, both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of, you know, what the most, their biggest concerns are. And I want to thank our troops for the heroic work that they've been doing."
Asked if he would have tough talk for the leaders of Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama said he was "more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking."
"I think it is very important to recognize that I'm going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it's the president's job to deliver those messages," Obama said. VideoWatch Obama's foreign policy adviser discuss overseas trip »
The fight in Afghanistan has become a more pressing issue on the political radar. Three times as many coalition soldiers and other military personnel have died this month in Afghanistan, compared with Iraq. July's death toll for coalition troops in Afghanistan reached 22 Saturday, after the Friday death of a Canadian soldier was announced.
The fight in Afghanistan has become a more pressing issue on the political radar. Three times as many coalition soldiers and other military personnel have died in July in Afghanistan than in Iraq.
On Sunday, nine U.S. soldiers were killed in a fight with about 200 Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan. It was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in three years. Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, met with American forces and, according to a U.S. official, is expected to meet ... more -
McCain attended zero Afghanistan hearings in the passed two years
ABC News reports that McCain has attended zero of his Senate committee's six hearings on Afghanistan in the last two years:
The McCain campaign criticism of Sen. Barack Obama's hearing record on Capitol Hill led us to put the shoe on the other foot.
It turns out that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, has attended even fewer Afghanistan-related Senate hearings over the past two years than Obama's one. Which is a nice way of saying, McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee, has attended zero of his committee's six hearings on Afghanistan over the last two years...
...The findings are surprising given the fact that the McCain campaign loudly criticized Obama this week for failing to schedule any hearings on Afghanistan in the last year and a half. Obama chairs the European Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has oversight of military operations in Afghanistan.
The American public believes the war in Afghanistan is far more essential to the war on terror than the war in Iraq: 51% believe the U.S. must win the war in Afghanistan to succeed in the war on terror, whereas only 34% feel the same about the Iraq war.
ABC News reports that McCain has attended zero of his Senate committee's six hearings on Afghanistan in the last two years: ... more -
Chertoff: European terrorists trying to enter US
Again we're reminded how we now live in a security state. For years we've been hearing these warnings, but Chertoff shouldn't scare us. Who are these terrorists and what are they trying to do in the US? Why is it reasonable that they would choose now to begin threatening the US again at home?
I'm just speculating here, but moves like this are more in line with the current administration's politics of fear and are directed at a population which is susceptible to irrational rallying. Tony Snow once said in a W.H. press briefing, "Public opinion is not something chiseled in stone. Quite often it's shaped by, among other things, political campaigns." That is exactly what the American people should be weary about and why we should demand more information when we're presented with reality-shifting comments like these ones from Chertoff.
Again we're reminded how we now live in a security state. For years we've been hearing these warnings, but Chertoff shouldn't scare us... more -
Al-Qaida draws more foreign recruits to Afghan war
"Afghanistan has been drawing a fresh influx of jihadi fighters from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya and the Middle East, one more sign that al-Qaida is regrouping on what is fast becoming the most active front of the war on terror groups.
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More foreigners are infiltrating Afghanistan because of a recruitment drive by al-Qaida as well as a burgeoning insurgency that has made movement easier across the border from Pakistan, U.S. officials, militants and experts say. For the past two months, Afghanistan has overtaken Iraq in deaths of U.S. and allied troops, and nine American soldiers were killed at a remote base in Kunar province Sunday in the deadliest attack in years."
"Afghanistan has been drawing a fresh influx of jihadi fighters from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya and the Middle East, one more sign... more -
Secret Red Cross report of C.I.A. torture of Qaeda captives
Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001. The book says that the International Committee of the Red Cross declared in the report, given to the C.I.A. last year, that the methods used on Abu Zubaydah, the first major Qaeda figure the United States captured, were "categorically" torture, which is illegal under both American and international law. The book says Abu Zubaydah was confined in a box "so small ... he had to double up his limbs in the fetal position" and was one of several prisoners to be "slammed against the walls," according to the Red Cross report. The C.I.A. has admitted that Abu Zubaydah and two other prisoners were waterboarded, a practice in which water is poured in the nose and mouth to [cause near] suffocation and drowning. The book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, by Jane Mayer ... offers new details of the agency’s secret detention program, as well as the bitter debates in the administration over interrogation methods. Citing unnamed "sources familiar with the report," Ms. Mayer wrote that the Red Cross document "warned that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted." Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-l... more
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First Guantanamo video released
A videotape of a detainee being questioned at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay has been released for the first time.
It shows 16-year-old Omar Khadr being asked by Canadian officials in 2003 about events leading up to his capture by US forces, Canadian media have said.
The Canadian citizen is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.
He is seen in a distressed state and complaining about the medical care.
The footage was made public by Mr Khadr's lawyers following a Supreme Court ruling in May that the Canadian authorities had to hand over key evidence against him to allow a full defence of the charges he is facing.
'Help me'
Mr Khadr, the only Westerner still held at the jail, was 15 when he was captured by US forces during a gun battle at a suspected al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.
During the 10-minute video of his questioning in Guantanamo a year later, he can be seen crying, his face buried in his hands, and pulling at his hair. He can be heard repeatedly chanting: "Help me."
At one point he lifts his orange shirt to show the foreign ministry official and agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) wounds on his back and stomach which he says he sustained in Afghanistan.
"I'm not a doctor, but I think you're getting good medical care," one of the officials responds.
Mr Khadr says: "No I'm not. You're not here... I lost my eyes. I lost my feet. Everything!" in reference to how his vision and physical health were affected.
"No, you still have your eyes and your feet are still at the end of your legs, you know," a man says.
Sobbing uncontrollably, Mr Khadr tells the officials several times: "You don't care about me."
In an accompanying classified document describing the interrogation, Mr Khadr also says he was tortured while being held at the US military detention centre at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
Public outcry?
The White House maintains that the US has treated all detainees held at Guantanamo in a humane way.
File pic of Omar Khadr before he was detained at the age of 15
Mr Khadr was 15 when he was captured by US forces
The Bush administration argues that it needs flexibility and those it calls terrorists cannot be treated as if they are simply criminal defendants.
But one of Mr Khadr's lawyers, Dennis Edney, said he hoped the video would cause an outcry in Canada and pressure Prime Minister Stephen Harper to demand that the US does not prosecute their client.
"I hope Canadians will be outraged to see the callous and disgraceful treatment of a Canadian youth," Mr Edney told the Toronto Star.
"Canadians should demand to know why they've been lied to."
Mr Harper reiterated last week that he would not interfere in Mr Khadr's military tribunal, due to begin at Guantanamo on 8 October.
Mr Khadr, now 21, faces multiple terrorism-related charges, the most serious of which is murder. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. A videotape of a detainee being questioned at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay has been released for the first time. ... more -
Guantanamo Bay video released
The footage shows a 16 year old Canadian Omar Khadr being interrogated by Canadian security officials at the detention centre in Cuba. I don't want to come across as insensitive, but is he wearing a shoulderless dress? The footage shows a 16 year old Canadian Omar Khadr being interrogated by Canadian security officials at the detention centre in Cuba.... more
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Taliban Breached NATO Base in Deadly Clash
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban insurgents who attacked an American-run NATO base near the Pakistan border on Sunday numbered as many as 200 and some managed to breach the walls of the outpost in what was a well-planned attack that took the soldiers on the base by surprise, officials said Monday.
The insurgents, who were repulsed, came so close that some of their corpses were lying around the base afterwards, Tamim Nuristani, the former governor of the region said after talking to officials in the district. A Western official requesting anonymity also confirmed that the Taliban did breach part of the base.
The attack on the base in Kunar Province left nine American soldiers dead, the worst single loss for the American military in Afghanistan since June 2005 and one of the worst since the Taliban and their Al Qaeda associates were routed in late 2001.
American and NATO military officials said the attack reflected the Taliban’s resurgence from new bases in neighboring Pakistan and underscored the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, where war casualties have jumped this year.
Inside the base soldiers were hit by shrapnel from incoming missiles and bullets from insurgents who were firing from the cover of village houses within a few hundred yards of the base, several officials said. Besides the nine killed, 15 American and four Afghan soldiers were wounded in the battle. The total number of soldiers assigned to the base has not been disclosed.
The Afghan soldiers received slight bullet wounds in the fight, according to the commander of the 201st Corps, Gen. Muhammad Rahim Wardak, and one had already returned to duty.
"Quite clearly they wanted to overrun the outpost," said the Western official said of the insurgents. "It was a well planned, surprise attack," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal such details of the event.
...
Local people and police have also been battling insurgents in Barg-e-Matal in another part of Nuristan, and complained that they were not getting enough assistance from the central government.
NATO officials gave little further detail of the attack Monday. "It has been quiet overnight, the insurgents had been pushed away," Captain Mike Finney, a spokesman for the NATO force in Kabul said.
* The Afghan cabinet accused the Pakistani Army and premier intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence, or ISI, of being behind a recent spate of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and announced it was suspending three scheduled bilateral meetings with Pakistan.
In a resolution after its weekly meeting, the cabinet blamed the ISI and the Pakistan army for the April assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai, the beheadings of several Afghan citizens by militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas, suicide bombings and the recent execution of two women in Ghazni province.
Abdul Waheed Wafa contributed reporting from Kabul.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban insurgents who attacked an American-run NATO base near the Pakistan border on Sunday numbered as many... more -
8 US soldiers killed in Taleban clashes
In yet another spate of deaths in Afghanistan, the US has reported that 8 of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with Taliban militants. It is one of the biggest single losses for the coalition since military operations commenced in 2001.
However, the number of civilian deaths is more alarming: the US said that "a number" of civilians were killed alongside the soldiers. This is on top of 21 reported dead in an attack earlier today, and 47 "wedding guests" which were killed in a horrific blunder by US forces eariler in the week.
In yet another spate of deaths in Afghanistan, the US has reported that 8 of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with Taliban mil... more -
Suicide Car Blast Kills 41 in Afghan Capital
A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 17 civilians, most of them children, and four police in a bazaar in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, police said.
Taliban suicide bombs have killed more than 230 civilians and wounded nearly 500 already this year, NATO says.
Afghan and foreign forces are stopping a greater proportion of the attacks but the Taliban are attempting many more suicide bombings this year compared to last, security experts say.
In the latest attack the bomber, travelling on a motorcycle, targeted a police vehicle in a bazaar in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province, the provincial police chief told Reuters.
"Seventeen civilians and four policemen died in the attack. Thirty-seven more civilians and five police have been wounded," Juma Khan Himat said by telephone, adding the death toll could rise. Most of the civilian victims were children, he said.
Afghanistan is suffering from a rising tide of violence this year, with a sharp increase in Taliban attacks, especially in the east where NATO says militants have taken advantage of peace deals in Pakistan to cross the border and fight in Afghanistan.
The Interior Ministry in Kabul said 24 people, four of them police, including a senior officer, were killed in the attack.
Growing insecurity has added to the rising frustration of many Afghans more than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks on the United States. A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 17 civilians, most of them children, and four police in a bazaar in southern Afghanistan on S... more -
What We're Doing Here...
A great way to put our attempt to fight the "war on terror" into perspective.
""He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security." - Benjamin Franklin
A great way to put our attempt to fight the "war on terror" into perspective. ... more -
US not hunting bin Laden on it's turf, syas Pakistan
AP foreign, Saturday July 12 2008 By JOHN HEILPRIN and PETER JAMES SPIELMANN Associated Press Writers NEW YORK (AP) - Pakistan's top diplomat said Saturday there are no U.S. or other foreign military personnel on the hunt for Osama bin Laden in his nation, and none will be allowed in to search for the al-Qaida leader. In an interview with The Associated Press, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said his nation's new government has ruled out such military operations, covert or otherwise, to catch militants. ``Our government's policy is that our troops, paramilitary forces and our regular forces are deployed in sufficient numbers. They are capable of taking action there. And any foreign intrusion would be counterproductive,'' he said Saturday. ``People will not accept it. Questions of sovereignty come in.'' The United States has grown increasingly frustrated as al-Qaida, the Taliban and other militants thrive in Pakistan's remote areas and in neighboring Afghanistan, and has offered U.S. troops to strike at terror networks. Critics in Washington also have expressed frustration with the new Pakistani government's pursuit of peace deals with tribes in the region. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the Afghan-Pakistan border region. Tension between the U.S. and Pakistan have been high after Pakistan said U.S. aircraft killed 11 of its soldiers at a border post in June. U.S. officials have said coalition aircraft dropped bombs during a clash with militants. Qureshi said he tried to reassure Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at their meeting Friday that his government was doing everything it can to combat militants in lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan regularly exchange criticism about not doing more to fight extremists operating along their long, remote, mountainous border that is seen by the U.S. as crucial to stopping terrorism. Qureshi also met Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who agreed to Pakistan's request to establish an independent commission that will investigate Bhutto's killing. Qureshi acknowledged Saturday that ``there are some infiltrations'' still occurring, but there are no covert U.S. military operations trying to catch al-Qaida figures and its chief, Taliban members or any other suspected militants. ``There are none,'' he said. ``It will create such an anti-U.S. feeling in Pakistan that I would say would mar the atmosphere of cooperation that exists between us.'' Qureshi described Pakistan's counterterrorism as a ``grassroots'' approach. ``Our strategy is that the military option alone is not enough,'' he said. ``This war has to be fought besides the armies, with the help of the people, by winning hearts and minds.'' Does he believe bin Laden is in Pakistan? ``I don't think so. I'm not sure,'' he said. ``Nobody's aware of that. Nobody can speak with certainty. But our policy's very clear. We are allies in this war. And if Pakistan has actionable information vis-a-vis Osama bin laden or any other high value target, Pakistan will immediately take action.'' AP foreign, Saturday July 12 2008 By JOHN HEILPRIN and PETER JAMES SPIELMANN Associated Press Writers NEW YORK (AP) - Pakistan's top d... more
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Afghan warlords, now turn their guns on U.S. troops, formerly backed by CIA
KABUL—The war in Afghanistan reached a wrenching milestone this summer: For the second month in a row, U.S. and coalition troop deaths in the country surpassed casualties in Iraq. This is driven in large part, U.S. officials point out, by simple cause and effect. Marines flowed into southern Afghanistan earlier this year to rout firmly entrenched Taliban fighters, prompting a spike in combat in territory where NATO forces previously didn't have the manpower to send troops. "We're doing something we haven't done in seven years, which is go after the Taliban where they're living," says a U.S. official.Related NewsBush's Pool of Goodwill is Dry Mashek: Jesse Jackson Needs to Be Quiet Now Interpol's Chief on Beijing Olympics Security Video: Australia Celebrates Withdrawal From Iraq But amid a well-coordinated assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and large-scale bombings last week in the capitals of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. forces are keenly aware that they are facing an increasingly complex enemy here—what U.S. military officials now call a syndicate—composed not only of Taliban fighters but also powerful warlords who were once on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency. "You could almost describe the insurgency as having two branches," says a senior U.S. military official here. "It's the Taliban in the south and a 'rainbow coalition' in the east."Indeed, along with a smattering of Afghan tribal groups, Pakistani extremists, and drug kingpins, two of the most dangerous players are violent Afghan Islamists named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to U.S. officials. In recent weeks, Hekmatyar has called upon Pakistani militants to attack U.S. targets, while the Haqqani network is blamed for three large vehicle bombings, along with the attempted assassination of Karzai in April.Ironically, these two warlords—currently at the top of America's list of most wanted men in Afghanistan—were once among America's most valued allies. In the 1980s, the CIA funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and ammunition to help them battle the Soviet Army during its occupation of Afghanistan. Hekmatyar, then widely considered by Washington to be a reliable anti-Soviet rebel, was even flown to the United States by the CIA in 1985."He was the most radical of the radicals," recalls former Rep. Charlie Wilson, immortalized in the recent film Charlie Wilson's War for his role in directing U.S. military aid to anti-Soviet Afghan warlords. "He didn't hate us as much as he hated the Soviets," he adds, "but he sure didn't like us much." In his early years, the warlord distinguished himself by throwing acid in the faces of unveiled women. Today, a senior defense official says Hekmatyar is "as vicious as they come." In 2002, the CIA shot a Hellfire missile from an unmanned drone in an effort to kill him.....there's more KABUL—The war in Afghanistan reached a wrenching milestone this summer: For the second month in a row, U.S. and coalition troop deaths... more
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Senate passes no-warrant wiretapping bill. Kiss your rights good bye
The Senate Wednesday approved a bill to put new rules in place for intelligence agency eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.
Communication technologies like mobile phones have made the 1978 FISA bill out of date, supporters say.
The bill also effectively protects telephone companies from being sued for cooperating with a government surveillance program launched in the wake of the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The White House pushed hard for the provision, with a threat to veto the bill if it did not contain protection for phone companies.
The vote was 69-28, with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois voting in favor. Republican candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona was not present for the vote.
President Bush said Wednesday afternoon he will sign the bill, calling it "vital" and "long overdue." Watch Bush praise the new FISA bill »
The bill, formally known as the FISA Amendments Act, updates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It will:
Require the secret court set up to oversee FISA to review the surveillance of any targeted American whether the person is in the United States or abroad;
Provide for the FISA court to sign off on procedures for removing the name of any American inadvertently captured in a communication with a foreign target;
Prohibit reverse targeting, which is when intelligence officials eavesdrop on a foreigner's communications overseas as a means to spy on someone in the United States.
Close a loophole by explicitly establishing the 1978 law as the exclusive means for authorizing electronic surveillance;
Set up a procedure for federal judges to determine whether a telecommunications company can be sued for providing the intelligence community access to its networks without a court order.
The bill essentially grants immunity to the telecommunication companies, the opponents said, because all of the telephone carriers received government certifications saying their participation in the program was legal.
Obama was criticized for backing away from his early opposition to the bill by liberal bloggers and individuals commenting on his campaign Web site.
Before voting for the bill, Obama voted for an amendment offered by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, that would have stripped the language granting immunity to telecommunications companies.
Civil liberties groups have vowed to fight the legislation in court.
"This fight is not over. We intend to challenge this bill as soon as President Bush signs it into law," Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said in a statement issued minutes after the Senate approved the bill. "The bill allows the warrantless and dragnet surveillance of Americans' international telephone and e-mail communications. It plainly violates the Fourth Amendment."
President Bush acknowledged in 2005 that he ordered the secretive National Security Agency to intercept communications between U.S. residents and people overseas suspected of having ties to terrorism. The administration says the program was authorized when Congress approved military action against al Qaeda after the 2001 attacks.
The Senate Wednesday approved a bill to put new rules in place for intelligence agency eavesdropping on suspected terrorists. ... more -
Ingrid Betancourt Exclusive Interview: "Ma faith has saved me"
Ingrid Betancourt : "Ma foi m'a sauvée"
L'ex-otage la plus célèbre du monde s'est rendue au Sacré-cœur de Montmartre ce dimanche 6 juillet pour remercier Jésus et la Vierge Marie de sa libération.
Ingrid Beancourt, the most famous Ex-hostage in the world went to the Sacred Heart basilica in Paris, this past Sunday to thank Jesus and the Virgin Mary for her liberation
Parce qu’elle voulait tenir une promesse faite durant sa captivité
Because, she wanted to keep a promesse she made during her captivity
Parce que si je n’avais pas eu le Seigneur à mes côtés, je ne pense pas que j’aurais réussi à grandir dans la douleur. Etre otage vous place dans une situation de constante humiliation. Vous êtes victime de l’arbitraire complet, vous connaissez le plus vil de l’âme humaine.
If I had not felt God at my side, I do not believe that I would have been able to overcome such suffering. When you are an hostage, you are facing constant humiliation. You are the victim of total arbitrary. You get to know the worse there is in the human soul.
Ingrid Betancourt : "Ma foi m'a sauvée" ... more -
Will Obama Get Rid Of Mugabe And End Suffering In Zimbabwe ?
"Let me be a Hitler ten-fold "
Robert Mugabe
After 28 years under the hard dicatorship of Mugabe, people in Zimbabwe have done everything they could and are begging for help.
The UN, the AU and the EU are not willing to do the job.
What would Obama do ?
"Let me be a Hitler ten-fold " Robert Mugabe ... more
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