Afghanistan prisoners to be allowed to challenge their detention for first time 13 Sep 2009 Prisoners held in Afghanistan for years without trial in a notorious military prison and accused of being Taliban fighters or terrorists will for the first time be able to challenge their detention. More than 600 prisoners held at Bagram airbase will be given a chance to have their case reviewed under a new scheme disclosed by the Pentagon... The move was met cautiously by lawyers working with prisoners. Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at City University of New York acting for a Yemeni seized in Thailand in 2002 said it was "window dressing". "The whole thing was meant to pull the wool over the eyes of the judicial system. These changes don't come anywhere near an adequate substitute for a real review." The guidelines came to light as President Barack Obama's administration reviewed Bush-era detention policies. His government is currently in US court battles with lawyers seeking to gain full legal rights for Bagram detainees.
U.S. to Expand Review of Detainees in Afghan Prison --Some of the detainees have already been held at Bagram for as long as six years. 13 Sep 2009 The Obama administration soon plans to issue new guidelines aimed at giving the hundreds of prisoners at an American detention center in Afghanistan significantly more ability to challenge their custody, Pentagon officials and detainee advocates say. The new Pentagon guidelines would assign military-appointed representatives to each of the roughly 600 detainees at the American-run prison at the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul... Two prisoners [argue] that they were not enemy combatants and want a civilian judge to review the evidence against them and order their release, under the constitutional right of habeas corpus. The Obama administration, like the Bush administration, has rejected this argument... The new policy guidelines will bolster the government’s case, said the Defense Department official, who added, "We want to be able to go into court and say we have good review procedures." The Obama administration had sought to preserve Bagram as a haven where it could detain terrorism suspects beyond the reach of American courts, agreeing with the Bush regime’s view that courts had no jurisdiction over prisoners there.
'America's final goal is to create confrontation between Iran and Iraq.' US wants Iran-Iraq confrontation: Vahidi 12 Sep 2009 Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Saturday that Washington was aiming to trigger a confrontation between former archfoes turned allies Iran and Iraq. "America's final goal is to create confrontation between Iran and Iraq," Vahidi said in reaction to an interview by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates in which he urged Washington's Arab allies to strengthen their military capabilities in order to pressure Iran into halting its nuclear programme. "We advise US officials not to try to militarise the atmosphere in the region and to change their wrong strategy to make up for past mistakes," Vahidi was quoted as saying by Fars new agency.
U.S. soldier held in shooting death of KBR contractor on American base 13 Sep 2009 A U.S. soldier was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting today of a civilian contractor on an American military base in the northern Iraq city of Tikrit, the military said. The shooting occurred at 8:30 a.m. and the man died of his wounds later in the day. The Associated Press later reported that Houston-based KBR confirmed he was one of its employees, 27-year-old Lucas Vinson.
At least 3 killed in car bombing in northeast Baghdad 13 Sep 2009 At least three people were killed and 20 others injured in a car bomb explosion at a popular market in a town in the volatile Diyala province on Sunday, a provincial police source said. The incident took place in the afternoon in a busy marketplace in the town of Maqdadiyah, some 100 km northeast of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Back-to-back bombs at Shiite shrine in Iraq kill 4 12 Sep 2009 Two bombs exploded back to back near a Shiite shrine in central Baghdad where worshippers had gathered in prayer Saturday, killing four people and injuring 24, police and hospital officials said. The first bomb went off next to the tomb of a revered ninth century religious figure, Sheik Othman al-Omari. Then a car bomb exploded in a nearby parking lot as crowds were gathering. The blasts damaged the shrine and blew out the windows of neighboring buildings.
39 civilians, 5 U.S. troops die in Afghanistan 13 Sep 2009 Five Americans were killed Saturday amid a wave of bombings, ambushes and killings that swept across Afghanistan. At least 39 Afghan civilians and members of the Afghan security forces were also killed in attacks that struck the north, the south and the east on Friday and Saturday, Afghan officials said.
US not to channel aid to Pak through the government sector: official 13 Sep 2009 The United States has made it clear that it would not funnel its aid to Pakistan through the government sector unless it is convinced that the funds would be used effectively and efficiently and exactly for the purpose it is meant for. [And, what would that be?]
Total and Chevron accused of propping up junta 10 Sep 2009 Two reports by EarthRights International, a US-based rights advocacy group, allege that energy giants Total and Chevron are propping up Burma's junta with a gas project that has allowed the regime to stash billions of dollars. Energy giants Total and Chevron are propping up Myanmar's junta with a gas project that has allowed the regime to stash nearly five billion dollars in Singaporean banks, a rights group said Thursday. France's Total and US-based Chevron have also tried to whitewash alleged rights abuses by Myanmar troops guarding the pipeline, including forced labour and killings, two reports by US-based EarthRights International said.
Court temporarily halts CIA secrets case 13 Sep 2009 A federal appeals court has put a lawsuit against the CIA on hold temporarily, disagreeing with a lower court judge who claimed the agency was hiding behind dubious national security arguments to shield itself from potential embarrassment. The decision by a federal appeals panel on Thursday to grant an emergency stay will likely put off the questioning of a key witness in the case. The CIA has argued that allowing the case to proceed would divulge classified information.
Sonic Weapons Used in Iraq Positioned At Town Hall Meetings 11 Sep 2009 (CA) The device was stationed by San Diego County Sheriff deputies at a recent town hall forum hosted by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) in Spring Valley and at a subsequent town hall with Congressman Darrell Issa (R-San Diego). A public records search conducted by East County Magazine has confirmed that the device is an LRAD 500-x manufactured by San Diego-based American Technology Corporation (ATC). Capable of use as an effective loudspeaker, the LRAD also has the ability to emit a deafening tone aimed at incapacitating and dispersing a crowd without use of lethal force.
Disaster Plans Being Revised For Swine Flu 13 Sep 2009 Even if swine flu remains a mild infection, the pandemic could be the tipping point for an emergency medical system teetering on the edge. Federal officials are asking hospitals to report more current details about how stressed or well-equipped they are so the officials can help coordinate care in a crisis. In a worst-case scenario, some states, such as Iowa and California, have mobile hospitals consisting of a series of connected tents that they could rush to any area and erect, for example, on a football field.
Govt sees early delivery of flu vaccine 13 Sep 2009 Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Sunday said the United States now expects to receive the first batch of [deadly] swine flu vaccine in early October, a few weeks earlier than expected. "We're on track to have an ample supply by October," Sebelius told ABC television "but we may have some early vaccine as early as the first full week in October."
Curiouser and curiouser: 2 flu strains in 1 pig led to new H1N1 --Swine flues merged, jumped to humans 13 Sep 2009 The new H1N1 strain is based primarily on an unusual virus that has been circulating widely in U.S. pigs since the 1990s. That "triple reassortant" flu is actually a combination of classic swine flu, a North American avian flu and a strain of human flu. Somehow [!?!], a single pig became simultaneously infected with that virus and a pure swine flu strain found in pigs in Europe and Asia. The two strains swapped genetic material to produce the new H1N1 strain, which then began to infect humans. How did strains mix? That remains a mystery, and scientists will probably never know. [Uh, I'd say, we *all* know! I saw this one marching down Broadway when Shock & Awe was just a twinkle in Rumsfeld's eye. See: Killer flu recreated in the lab 07 Oct 2004 UK Scientists have shown that tiny changes to modern flu viruses could render them as deadly as the 1918 strain which killed millions. A US team added two genes from a sample of the 1918 virus to a modern strain known to have no effect on mice. Animals exposed to this composite were dying within days of symptoms similar to those found in human victims of the 1918 pandemic. And, they are about to hit paydirt, w. this pandemic insanity. --LRP]
Key Blagojevich adviser Christopher Kelly dead 12 Sep 2009 The man federal prosecutors pressured to cooperate in the corruption probe of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich died of an apparent aspirin overdose on Saturday, law enforcement sources said. Christopher Kelly, 51, of Burr Ridge, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 10:46 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled for today, a Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman said.
ABC News Was Misquoted on Crowd Size --ABC News Reported D.C. Rally Size in Tens of Thousands, Not 1M to 1.5M as Teabagger Said. 12 Sep 2009 Conservative activists, who organized a march on the U.S. Capitol today in protest of the Obama administration's health care agenda and government spending, erroneously attributed reports on the size of the crowds to ABC News. Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks [United Healthcare whore], the group that organized the event, said on stage at the rally that ABC News was reporting that 1 million to 1.5 million people were in attendance.
House may vote on formal rebuke for Rep. Wilson outburst 13 Sep 2009 The House of Representatives appears headed for a vote to formally rebuke Rep. Joe Wilson this week for heckling President Obama after the South Carolina Republican refused Sunday to apologize on the House floor. "The House likely will take up a resolution," Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told USA TODAY. "He violated the decorum of the House; it has to be resolved in the House."
Lawmaker won't apologize to Obama in Congress 13 Sep 2009 South Carolina Republican Representative [racist] Joe Wilson, who faces possible censure in the U.S. House of Representatives for shouting "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's speech to Congress on healthcare reform, said on Sunday he would not apologize again. Calling his outburst on Wednesday evening "a town hall moment," Wilson told "Fox News Sunday" that since his apology to the president had already been accepted, he did not plan to apologize on the House floor as Democrats have demanded.
Insurance Industry to Write New Obama Health Care Compromise Bill --The universal health care provision will mandate that everyone buy a health care plan from a private insurance provider or be thrown into Guantanamo Bay prison as a traitor. By R J Shulman 13 Sep 2009 In a bold new move to push health care reform through Congress by the end of the year, President Barack Obama has asked the insurance industry to help draft a bill that can get the votes of so-called Blue Dog Democrats and some Republican support... The bill also makes it illegal for anyone, any government entity or business to negotiate for lower health care premium prices as that would be considered government interference with the free market. "We just can't have anyone trying to shove down limits down the throats of CEO bonuses as that is just anti-American," said Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT). (Satire)
Stiglitz Says Banking Problems Are Now Bigger Than Pre-Lehman 13 Sep 2009 Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, said the U.S. has failed to fix the underlying problems of its banking system after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. "In the U.S. and many other countries, the too-big-to-fail banks have become even bigger," Stiglitz said in an interview today in Paris. "The problems are worse than they were in 2007 before the crisis."
Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America' 11 Sep 2009 A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer. Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia. However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country [of morons] where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.
Previous lead stories: Putin warns against Iran attack --US and Israel have never ruled out the option of air strikes on Iran to stop it acquiring an atomic weapon 11 Sep 2009 Russian PM Vladimir Putin has warned against military action targeting Iran or imposing new sanctions to curb its nuclear programme. Iran's latest proposals on its nuclear ambitions have brought diverging views from the US and Russia. Earlier, a US official told the BBC that Washington was unhappy with the proposals, submitted on Wednesday. President Barack Obama has given Tehran until the end of September to respond to his friendlier overtures or face new sanctions.
Obama says U.S. must renew fight against al Qaeda 11 Sep 2009 President George W. Bush Barack Obama sought to rally Americans behind the war in Afghanistan on the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States as opinion polls show faltering public support for the conflict. "Let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and plot against us still," Obama said on Friday at a somber ceremony attended by about 500 people under rain-filled skies at the Pentagon. "In pursuit of al Qaeda and its extremist allies we will never falter," he said, before laying a wreath at a memorial for those killed at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
US committee approves $128 billion war spending --Funding will allow President Obama's order to add 21,000 more troops to the Afghanistan contingent, to proceed. 10 Sep 2009 A powerful Senate committee in the US has approved President Barack Obama’s $128 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. With little debate, it was decided to allow the request which will cater for $636 billion in funding for next year’s Pentagon budget. The funding will allow President Obama’s order from earlier this year, to add 21,000 more troops to the Afghanistan contingent, to go ahead.
