Breaking: Controversial Blackwater Security Firm Gets Iraq Contract Extended by State Dept --Company Banned From Operating by Iraqi Government Earlier This Year 01 Sep 2009 The State Department has extended a contract with controversial private security firm Blackwater, ABC News has learned. The contract was due to expire this month. Sources say the department has agreed to temporarily continue using the subsidiary known as Presidential Airways to provide helicopter transport for embassy employees around Iraq until a new contract with another security company, DynCorp International, is fully implemented. Presidential Airways is an arm of U.S. Training Center, which is a subsidiary of the company Xe, formerly and still commonly known as Blackwater. [OH GREAT. The child rapists of DynCorp are going to 'eventually' replace the murderers, rapists, sociopaths, arsonists, bombers, thieves and all-around-Blackwater/Xe terrorists. See: DynCorp Disgrace By Kelly Patricia O'Meara 14 Jan 2002 Middle-aged men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doing business in Bosnia.]
Phrase 'War on Terror' Returns to White House Lexicon [It - like Bush himself - never really left.] 01 Sep 2009 Press Secretary Robert Gibbs may have returned the United States to the "War on Terror" -- or at least returned the term "War on Terror" to the White House glossary -- when he used the abandoned phrase Monday in response to a question about the current situation in Afghanistan. "You can't under-resource the most important part of our War on Terror, you can't under-resource that for five or six or seven years... and hope to snap your fingers and have that turn around in just a few months," Gibbs said during the daily briefing to reporters.
CIA: No more interrogation secrets to be disclosed 01 Sep 2009 The CIA says it cannot turn over more details of its interrogations of terror suspects without spilling classified government secrets. A long-secret report released last week shed new light on alleged CIA [torture and] abuses. The spy agency faced a Monday court deadline to turn over more papers, but the agency responded by telling the federal judge in the case that dozens of remaining documents must stay secret.
Doctors' role in CIA abuse 'approaches unlawful human experimentation' - rights group --Doctors had 'central role' in CIA abuse 31 Aug 2009 A US-based medical rights advocacy group on Monday blasted health experts for playing a "central role" in advising and implementing the CIA's abusive interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) issued its six-page white paper after shocking details about the range of techniques used by interrogators, including waterboarding, came to light one week ago with release of a 2004 CIA inspector general's report. "Health professionals played a central role in developing, implementing and providing justification for torture," PHR said in its report... PHR warned that such spy agency techniques -- and monitoring by doctors to gauge their effectiveness -- "approaches unlawful experimentation" on human subjects. The report's lead author, PHR medical advisor Scott Allen, said in a statement on the organization's website, "medical doctors and psychologists colluded with the CIA to keep observational records about waterboarding, which approaches unethical and unlawful human experimentation."
CIA's black sites, illuminated --The facilities were never meant to be 'ordinary prisons,' recently released documents reveal in meticulous detail. 31 Aug 2009 Their transformations took place in a sensory cocoon: aboard a CIA aircraft, shackled in place, deprived of sight and sound by blindfolds, headsets and hoods. They emerged into an existence that was hidden for most of the last eight years, but now is possible to glimpse through dozens of declassified files released by the Obama administration last week... They were stripped, shaved and shoved against walls the moment they arrived. What came next was an escalating menu of interrogation options, culminating in a method used in the Inquisition -- waterboarding -- to make them think they would drown.
US judge says Kuwaiti's detention in Guantanamo justified 01 Sep 2009 A US federal judge has ruled the detention of Kuwaiti Fawzi al-Odah justified, saying it was more likely than not he had been a member of the Taliban, in a ruling AFP obtained Tuesday. Now 32, Odah was one of the first Guantanamo detainees prisoners who brought a case to US civilian courts to challenge former US president [sic] George W. Bush's right to detain them indefinitely without charge.
Federal judge denies Al Odah Guantanamo habeas petition 01 Sep 2009 Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the US District Court for the District of Columbia denied the habeas corpus petition of Guantanamo Bay detainee Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad Al Odah in a partially redacted opinion made public Monday. Kollar-Kelly denied Al Odah's habeas petition last week, finding that the government had shown that it was more likely than not that he "became part of Taliban and al Qaeda forces" after traveling to Afghanistan and attending a terrorist training camp.
August death toll in Iraq is the highest in more than a year 02 Sep 2009 Insurgent attacks produced the highest monthly death toll among Iraqis in 13 months, according to Iraqi government figures obtained by The Times on Tuesday, with August marred by suicide bombings in the north and a high-profile assault on government ministries in Baghdad. A total of 456 Iraqi civilians and security personnel were killed in attacks in August, the Iraqi government figures show. It was the deadliest month since July 2008, when 465 Iraqis died violently...
US Proposes Sending Troops to Disputed Area of Northern Iraq 01 Sep 2009 Recently, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq [General Ray Odierno] said he wants to send American troops to a disputed strip of territory in northern Iraq - for a limited time - to defuse growing tensions between Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish militia. [Yeah, that will help.] The disputed area includes Ninevah Province, which has experienced a string of bloody bombings recently, including in Mosul, one of Iraq's largest cities.
August deadliest month for foreign troops in Afghanistan 02 Sep 2009 Foreign troops fighting in Afghanistan endured their deadliest month since the 2001 invasion in August when 77 soldiers died, an independent website tracking military casualties said Tuesday. Icasualties.org said the 77 deaths came after the 76 who perished in July, which was previously the bloodiest month for foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Bomb kills US service member in Afghanistan 01 Sep 2009 NATO says a U.S. service member has died in Afghanistan from wounds suffered in an explosion. The service member died Tuesday after a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan on Monday.
U.S. Embassy Guards Accused of Misconduct in Afghanistan 01 Sep 2009 Private security contractors Mercenaries who guard the U.S. embassy in Kabul have engaged in lewd behavior and hazed subordinates, demoralizing the undermanned force and posing a "significant threat" to security at time when the Taliban is intensifying attacks in the Afghan capital, according to an investigation released Tuesday by a government watchdog group. The Project on Government Oversight launched the probe after more than a dozen security guards contacted the group to report misconduct and morale problems within the force of 450 guards that lives at Camp Sullivan, a few miles from the U.S. embassy compound.
Animal House in Afghanistan By Daniel Schulman 01 Sep 2009 Drunken brawls, prostitutes, hazing and humiliation, taking vodka shots out of buttcracks-- no, the perpetrators of these Animal House-like antics aren't some depraved frat brothers. They are the private security contractors guarding Camp Sullivan, otherwise known as the US Embassy in Kabul. These allegations, and many more, are contained in a letter sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday by the Project on Government Oversight, which has been investigating the embassy security contract held by ArmorGroup North America (a subsidiary of Wackenhut, which is in turn owned by the security behemoth G4S)... Nevertheless, the government opted to extend the company's 5-year, $189 million contract for another year.
Flu fascism alert: Minnesota: Post police car outside infected person's home 01 Sep 2009 As state epidemiologist [Minnesota Department of Health], Dr. Ruth Lynfield's job is to reveal the possibilities for the next wave of swine flu, including the worst-case scenario. For months, Lynfield has been tracking the swine flu outbreak in Minnesota and refining contingency plans... What about an infected person -- could the state force him to stay home? "If they're quarantined, yes," Lynfield tells colleagues at one planning session. "That's the point of quarantine." What if the patient doesn't cooperate? Well, she replies, they could post a police car outside his home.
Iowa officials say no quarantine for swine flu 31 Aug 2009 Iowa public health officials are trying to alert the public that there is no truth to an Internet rumor that the state has instituted a quarantine for the H1N1 flu is untrue. Polly Carver-Kimm, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said a reporter from Kentucky called the department Monday, asking about something called the "facility quarantine order." [And, here is the nonexistent document: Iowa Department of Public Health - Center for Acute Disease Epidemiology, 'Local Board of Health Quarantine Isolation Rules:' Facility Quarantine Order. '6. Violations of order. If you fail to comply with this Quarantine Order you may be ordered to be quarantined in a more restrictive facility. In addition, failure to comply with this order is a simple misdemeanor for which you may be arrested, fined, and imprisoned. [This document has been saved on the CLG server.]
IDPH Issues Statement On Internet Quarantine Rumor 31 Aug 2009 The Iowa Department of Public Health issued a statement Monday on an Internet rumor circulating about an H1N1 quarantine document. IDPH officials said it's unknown who accessed a copy of the document [? Um, I did - for one] called Iowa’s "Facility Quarantine Order" that is now being shared on the Internet on some rumor Web sites and by e-mail. Department official said "IDPH wants to make it clear that Iowa has not issued any isolation and quarantine orders for novel influenza A (H1N1), and has no plans to issue any this fall." Officials said it is common for document templates to be prepared in case they are needed, but they said isolation and quarantine orders are "only rarely used in very specific situations." [Yup, it's the classic non-denial denial. IDPH: It's being 'shared on the Internet' because you uploaded it *to* the Internet. --LRP]
'We definitely reserve the right to take a look at someone, we can definitely take them off the plane.' 01 Sep 2009 Airlines say they're preparing for the return of swine flu this fall.. Rather than impose special measures to deal with the H1N1 virus, several U.S. carriers emphasize they'll follow long-standing policies that permit them to keep an ill person from flying, whatever the sickness. "We do definitely reserve that right to take a look at someone, and if they exhibit signs of having a communicable disease and flying is not in their best interest, we can definitely take them off and get them the medical care that they need," says Paul Flaningan, a Southwest spokesman.
'Chicago's schools plan to track real-time attendance for the first time to identify hotspots.' New York, L.A., Boston Set Up Swine Flu Vaccination Centers 01 Sep 2009 New York, Los Angeles and Boston are setting up swine flu centers to administer vaccinations as part of a plan to slow foment the spread of the virus that U.S. health officials have said may infect half the nation’s population. New York will offer free immunizations at elementary schools and distribute the vaccine through about 100 health clinics, according to plans released today by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office. Los Angeles will give out shots at its fair grounds, Boston is letting city employees leave work for two hours to get vaccinated and Chicago’s schools plan to track real-time attendance for the first time to identify hotspots, spokesmen for those municipalities said.
Swine flu vaccine trial seeks volunteers 01 Sep 2009 Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine are looking for healthy adults to test a new swine flu vaccine mixed with an ingredient that could boost people's immune response. Adding such a chemical adjuvant to the vaccine could help stretch limited supplies by making a single dose more potent, researchers believe. [Why don't the pharma-terrorists test it on *themselves?*]
Cheney in 2012? Now there's a real September surprise 01 Sep 2009 James Taranto, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, is suggesting that [Dick] Cheney would be a terrific presidential candidate in 2012. If national security emerges as the key issue in the election, he argues, "Republicans would be wise to nominate someone with both toughness and experience. Under such circumstances, it’s hard to think of a better candidate -- assuming, of course, that he could be persuaded to run -- than Richard B. Cheney." The calculus: If the Afghanistan war worsens, it will become Obama’s war. And if terrorists attack this country again, a fierce voice on national security might have a chance.
US pastor prays for Obama's death in 'spiritual warfare' 01 Sep 2009 A pastor has caused outrage among church-goers in Phoenix, Arizona after praying for the death of the African-American US President Barack Obama. In his August 16 sermon entitled "Why I Hate Barack Obama," the Phoenix-area pastor, Steven Anderson, asked his parishioners to join him in prayer for Obama's death. "I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today," he told 'MyFOXPhoenix,' a local broadcasting affiliate of the right-wing FOXNews network.
'Yet again, the banks are putting profit over people.' RBS Protesters Glue Hands to Trading Floor 01 Sep 2009 Environmental campaigners have glued their hands to the trading floor of RBS in the City of London, Sky sources say. The protesters disguised themselves as construction workers to get into the company's Bishopgate HQ. They unfurled banners which read "RBS: under new ownership" and "Ethical renovation in progress". The activists said they were protesting against the bank's investments in fossil fuel projects, especially funding for the coal industry and tar sands extraction in Canada.
Ban Ki-moon 'alarmed' by melting glaciers on visit to Arctic 01 Sep 2009 The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday he was "alarmed" by the rate at which the Arctic's glaciers were retreating as he visited the region ahead of key climate talks in December. Mr Ban said world leaders had a "moral political responsibility" to safeguard the future of the planet. "I am very much alarmed and surprised to have seen these glaciers all worn," he told journalists as he visited the Ny-Aalesund climate change research station in the Svalbard archipelago, located 745 miles from the North Pole.
Fierce California fires tear into tattered budget 01 Sep 2009 California's wildfires are burning through state cash at an alarming rate, with the government spending more than half its annual firefighting budget just two months into the fiscal year -- even before the traditional fire season began on Tuesday. The state's ballooning budget deficit and sharp drop in revenues resulting from the recession have forced delays in replacing aging firefighting equipment, including 40-year-old bulldozers.
Previous lead stories: Iraq ministry bombers 'recently freed by US' --The suicide bombers who killed 95 people in devastating attacks at Iraqi government ministries on August 19 had recently been released from US custody, a senior interior ministry official said on Sunday. 31 Aug 2009 The bombings in Baghdad also wounded 600 people in what was the worst day of violence to hit the country for 18 months. "The suicide bomber who blew himself up at the ministry of foreign affairs was released three months ago from Camp Bucca," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the US jail near Basra. "The suicide bomber who blew himself up outside the ministry of finance was also released a few months ago from the same jail."
US Hummers Enter Pakistan, Undercover American Soldiers In Islamabad By Ahmed Quraishi 01 Sep 2009 Undercover armed Americans are swarming the Pakistani capital in the latest sign that the elected government has allowed Washington to dispatch what is believed to be a large number of American special operations agents and contractual security guards, including the infamous Blackwater private militia... The latest evidence of the growing American military presence in the Pakistani capital is the arrest of four Americans carrying automatic weapons in a part of the Pakistani capital that foreigners seldom visit. The four were arrested in Sector G-9 of Islamabad in the evening of Saturday, Aug. 29.
