UK: Hard to eradicate risk some allies use torture --Miliband: Disclosing documents could jeopardize Britain's intelligence relationship with US 16 Jun 2009 Britain has abandoned some attempts to gather intelligence from prisoners held overseas for fear they may be abused, the foreign secretary said Tuesday. But David Miliband also said he could not guarantee that Britain's allies would refrain from abusing detainees. Former Guantanamo prisoner Binyam Mohamed accused Britain of colluding with the United States in his alleged torture in Pakistan and Morocco. London police are deciding whether there is evidence that British intelligence officials should face criminal charges over allegations that they were complicit in the alleged torture of Mohammed. Separately, British courts are considering several lawsuits filed by men who claim the U.K. was aware of their mistreatment overseas. A succour-free zone: David Miliband refuses to publish old MI5 guidelines on interrogation "Information on interrogation procedures might be given to their lawyers, but that was 'not the same as putting it on the internet.'" 16 Jun 2009 David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, has said he will not publish earlier guidance for MI5 and MI6 on how to carry out interrogations, despite promises to publish the current version of the rules when they have been "consolidated and reviewed". Under questioning by the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Mr Miliband said publishing earlier guidelines could "give succour to our enemies" and that the rules had only become "more formal" after 2004. The Prime Minister promised to publish the current rules last March.
CIA pushing Obama to uphold torture secrecy 17 Jun 2009 The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is urging President Barack Obama to forestall efforts aimed at releasing parts of confidential torture memos seen as 'damaging.' According to US media, CIA is endeavoring to cover up large sections of a 2004 internal report that depicts officers administering "degrading" interrogation techniques to detainees held on suspicions of 'terror' activities.
US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran --America is secretly funding militant ethnic separatist groups in Iran in an attempt to pile pressure on the government. 25 Feb 2007 CIA officials are understood to be helping opposition militias among the numerous ethnic minority groups clustered in Iran's border regions. The operations are controversial because they involve dealing with movements that resort to terrorist methods terrorists in pursuit of their grievances against the Iranian regime. In the past year there has been a wave of unrest in ethnic minority border areas of Iran, with bombing and assassination campaigns against soldiers and government officials... Funding for their separatist causes comes directly from the CIA's classified budget but is now "no great secret", according to one former high-ranking CIA official in Washington who spoke anonymously to The Sunday Telegraph. His claims were backed by Fred Burton, a former US state department counter-terrorism agent, who said: "The latest attacks inside Iran fall in line with US efforts to supply and train Iran's ethnic minorities to destabilise the Iranian regime." [Let's see. If Iran 'dealt with movements that resorted to terrorist methods' against the US, the US would have declared war on Iran in what, five pico-seconds? And, LieberBush/Boner (Boehner) would be yelping for Obama's impeachment because five pico-seconds would not be quick enough. --LRP]
US seeking 'international front' against Iran 17 Jun 2009 The United States has raised the idea of an 'international front' against, what it has long been referring to as, 'wrongful' pursuits on the part of Iran. On Wednesday, US Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn depicted the formation that included Russian surveillance structures. "We are exploring the cooperation with the Russians," he said.
Iran TV Accuses U.S. of 'Intolerable' Meddling as Protesters Hit the Streets Again 17 Jun 2009 Supporters of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi are marching again on the streets of Tehran today, state [as opposed to corporate] TV reported. It's the fifth consecutive day of protests since last week's controversial presidential election... Also today, Iranian state TV accused the United States of "intolerable" meddling in its internal affairs, The Associated Press reported. The statement echoes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim over the weekend that the foreign media is engaged in psychological warfare against the Iranian people.
White House: US not meddling in Iran's affairs 17 Jun 2009 The US has dismissed the remarks made by Iran that the White House is interfering in the country's internal affairs by commenting on the election dispute. Earlier, Iran summoned the Swiss envoy to Tehran, who represents US interests, to protest against "interfering remarks" by US officials on last week's presidential election, Iran's state-run television reported. [See: US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran 25 Feb 2007 and US seeking 'international front' against Iran 17 Jun 2009.]
Sarkozy says Iran election a 'fraud' [He should know.] 17 Jun 2009 As the landslide victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's disputed election provoked unrest, French President Nicolas Sarkozy denounces the result of Friday's vote as a "fraud." "The extent of the fraud is proportional to the violent reaction," Sarkozy said Tuesday. "It is a tragedy, but it is not negative to have a real-opinion movement that tries to break its chains." [And, where was Sarkozy when Bush bin Laden stole *two* presidential 'elections' in the US? Oh, that's right. Sarkozy -- and 99% of the US media -- were burrowing as deep as possible up Bush's butt. --LRP]
Iran's marine mammals endangered 17 Jun 2009 An Iranian conservationist has warned that the country's marine mammals are in danger since there is no expert in the field. Various kinds of dolphins and other marine mammals have died in Iranian waters as the country lacks experts in this field, Hashem Dakhteh told Mehr news agency on Tuesday... Previous studies showed that water pollution with contaminants and pesticides such as DDT and PCBs put marine wildlife at risk and involve very serious side effects for them.
'Israel hatching new plot in ME' 17 Jun 2009 Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says the recent speech by Israel's Prime Minister suggests that the regime is hatching a new "plot" against the region. "What is happening in the region is a US-Israeli plan. There is a scheme with a clear division of roles between the US and Israel to divide the Arab region," Nasrallah said on Wednesday.
Iraq makes arrests after Sunni leader's murder 17 Jun 2009 Iraqi authorities have arrested several people who may be connected to the murder of a Sunni Muslim politician, officials said on Wednesday... Harith al-Ubaidi, head of the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament and a leading human rights advocate, was shot dead at a mosque in west Baghdad after Friday prayers. As Ubaidi was a leading rights defender, in particular of Iraqi prisoners, some fellow politicians have tried to point the finger at other potential culprits, such as Interior Ministry officials.
U.S. to issue new uniforms for troops in Afghanistan 18 Jun 2009 The U.S. House of Representatives has required the Pentagon to issue new uniforms for troops in Afghanistan after hearing complaints that camouflage that was fine in Iraq doesn't work well in Afghanistan. The requirement was included in a 106-billion-U.S.-dollar war funding bill which passed the House on Tuesday night, the Military Times reported on Wednesday.
N.S.A.'s Pinwale Examines Large Volumes of US E-mail Messages Without Court Warrants --E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress 17 Jun 2009 The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said. A former N.S.A. analyst who, in a series of interviews, described being trained in 2005 for a program [Pinwale] in which the agency routinely examined large volumes of Americans’ e-mail messages without court warrants. Two intelligence officials confirmed that the program was still in operation.
Audit Finds U.S. Overpaid Blackwater By $55 Million 17 Jun 2009 A government audit found that the State Department overpaid the contract-security firm once known as Blackwater Worldwide by tens of millions of dollars because the company failed to properly staff its teams in Iraq. The report said the State Department should have withheld at least $55 million in payments to the company because of the shortfalls.
KBR Should Refund U.S. Payments for War Insurance, Auditors Say 16 Jun 2009 KBR Inc., the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, should be pressed to return part of $27.6 million the Pentagon paid for the company’s war insurance premiums in 2003, according to Pentagon auditors. The Defense Contract Audit Agency recommended contracting officials begin withholding payments on future contracts if KBR doesn’t provide paperwork documenting that the insurance premium billings in 2003 were reasonable.
CIA Fights Disclosure of Interrogation Report --White House Urged to Maintain Secrecy 17 Jun 2009 The CIA is pushing the Obama administration to maintain the secrecy of significant portions of a comprehensive internal account of the agency's interrogation program, according to two intelligence officials. The officials say the CIA is urging the suppression of passages describing in graphic detail how the agency handled its detainees, arguing that the material could damage ongoing counterterrorism operations by laying bare sensitive intelligence procedures and methods.
Obama, Lee warn North Korea; missile on the move 17 Jun 2009 The leaders of South Korea and the United States told North Korea to drop its atomic ambitions and stop threatening the region while media reports on Wednesday said Pyongyang was moving ahead with plans to launch a long-range missile. After a summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said a nuclear-armed North Korea would pose a "grave threat" to the world. [Yes, only certain nuclear-armed countries are 'grave threats' to the world. Allies of the US -- albeit nuclear armed -- do not pose a 'grave threat' to the world.]
DHS Conducts Continuity of Operations Exercise (DHS) 17 Jun 2009 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted an exercise to test the readiness and capabilities of federal departments and agencies--coordinating with the White House--to execute their Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans today. The exercise, known as Eagle Horizon, is a mandatory annual exercise for all executive branch departments and agencies coordinated by DHS through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its National Continuity Programs (NCP) Directorate... Emergency Relocation Group members were sent by their respective agencies to pre-planned alternate locations and asked to implement COOP procedures.
President Obama Calls on Americans to Serve --Unveils 'United We Serve' Initiative to Be Led by Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps) 17 Jun 2009 President Obama called on all Americans to help in our nation's recovery by volunteering in their communities this summer in a video message released today by the White House and the Corporation for National and Community Service... The United We Serve initiative kicks off on June 22, and runs for 81 days through a new National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11.
Air France crash: autopsies suggest plane broke up in air 17 Jun 2009 Multiple fractures on the bodies of victims of the Air France disaster suggest the plane broke up in the air, post mortem results have revealed. In the latest sign that Flight 447 was no longer intact when it plunged into the Atlantic, medical examiners said the bodies had multiple fractures of legs, hips and arms. Such injuries could mean the plane broke apart in air, forensic experts said. Bodies and debris would be severely fragmented if the jet crashed intact.
New H1N1 strain found 17 Jun 2009 Brazilian scientists have identified a new strain of the H1N1 virus after examining samples from a patient in Sao Paulo, their institute said on Tuesday. The variant has been called A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1 by the Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute, which compared it with samples of the A(H1N1) swine flu from California. The genetic sequence of the new sub-type of the H1N1 virus was isolated by a virology team lead by one of its researchers, Terezinha Maria de Paiva, the institute said in a statement.
Another 150 swine flu cases for UK 16 Jun 2009 More than 150 new cases of swine flu have been confirmed today, after English health officials detected the largest number of cases in a single day in the Birmingham area. The Health Protection Agency said 141 cases were found, with 124 of those in the West Midlands, the region with the largest swine flu outbreak in England. A further case appeared in Northern Ireland.
Libya records 13 cases of bubonic plague 17 Jun 2009 Thirteen cases of bubonic plague have been recorded in eastern Libya, near the border with Egypt, Health Minister Mohamad Hijazi told AFP on Wednesday. "Thirteen cases of the plague have been recorded in a village 30 kilometres (20 miles) away from Tobruk. Eleven people have already (been treated and) left hospital," he said, without reporting any deaths. Libyan media have spoken of between one and three fatalities.
Obama blasts right-wing Fox News 17 Jun 2009 US President Barack Obama has denounced the far-right television network, Fox News, for an adversarial stance against his administration. Speaking on America's CNBC, the US president slammed the hard-line TV channel, noting, "I've got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration ... that's a pretty big megaphone. You'd be hard pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front."
US hate crimes spike 17 Jun 2009 The election of Mr Barack Obama as the first African-American US president, the financial crisis and immigration have formed a lethal cocktail leading to a spike in hate crimes, rights leaders warned on Tuesday. 'This toxic combination of the financial crisis, a significant political change, and concern about shifting demographics has created what could be a combustible combination,' Mr Wade Henderson, head of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, told reporters.
Bachmann Boasts About Breaking The Law: I'm Refusing to Fill Out the Census By By Ali Frick 17 Jun 2009 Next year, the 2010 Census will be sent to every American household, as required by the U.S. Constitution. The far right has issued dire warnings of the Census; on a May 29th episode of Bill Bennett’s radio show, RNC Chairman Michael Steele intoned, "Certainly the collection of this information is going to be part of an ongoing political campaign by this administration." In an interview with the Washington Time’s right-wing radio show this morning, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) declared that she would break the law and refuse to answer the Census questions, beyond noting the number of people in her household.
Obama pushes reform to restore investor confidence --Obama envisions Federal Reserve as risk regulator 17 Jun 2009 President Barack Obama will lay out on Wednesday his vision for reshaping U.S. financial regulation, aiming to tighten oversight of the largest firms whose excessive risk-taking triggered a global recession. The proposals will include closing one bank regulator and creating new overseers for big-picture economic risk and consumer financial product safety, according to a document detailing the administration's proposal.
Gas prices rise for 50th straight day 17 Jun 2009 Retail gas prices climbed for the 50th straight day Wednesday, the longest streak in records dating to 1996, even as benchmark crude fell for the fourth day in a row. A surge in crude prices during the past few months and less production from the refiners that make gasoline [and corpora-terrorists' unbridled greed] has added even more pressure on prices.
Obama Signs Same Sex Benefits Memorandum --President Announces Extension of Benefits to Fed. Employees' Same-Sex Partners 17 Jun 2009 President Obama, who has come under heavy fire from gay rights groups in recent weeks, this evening signed a presidential memorandum that extends certain benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. The president said the move "paves the way for long-overdue progress in our nation's pursuit of equality," though he acknowledged "this is only one step."
Bear necessity to move Mercedes 16 Jun 2009 An appeal has been launched to help a polar bear in Edinburgh move home. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland said it needs £50,000 to move Mercedes from Edinburgh Zoo to the Highland Wildlife park. Original estimates put the cost of a new enclosure at £300,000 but a team of soldiers helped build the enclosure, which reduced the cost to £75,000. The society has also raised £25,000 through donations but still needs another £50,000.
Soldiers build polar bear's home --A team of territorial soldiers, usually charged with building army bases in Afghanistan, is making a home for the UK's only polar bear. [Awesome!] 19 May 2009 The 75 Engineer Regiment are working on a four-acre enclosure for Mercedes at the Highland Wildlife Park, Kingussie. Mercedes is moving from her current home at Edinburgh Zoo later this year. Costs for building Mercedes' home will be a quarter of the £300,000 originally estimated, thanks to the team of 80 soldiers.
Previous lead stories: Approves $106B Supplemental War, Vaccine Spending Bill --Wasted billions includes $7.7 for pharma-terrorists' flu vaccines 16 Jun 2009 The House has narrowly approved a $106 billion bill to ensure financing for war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the coming months. The vote was 226-202. The measure contains about $80 billion to fund defense activities in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September. It also contains some $10 billion for foreign aid, $7.7 billion to 'combat' the flu pandemic, and $1 billion in rebates for consumers who turn in their old cars for more fuel-efficient models. [The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.]
Newly Released Detainee Statements Provide More Evidence of CIA Torture Program --CIA Continues to Suppress Information From Detainee Tribunals With Heavy Redactions (ACLU) 15 Jun 2009 The CIA today released still-highly redacted documents in which Guantánamo Bay prisoners describe abuse and torture they suffered in CIA custody. The documents were released as part of an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking uncensored transcripts from Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) that determine if prisoners held by the Defense Department at Guantánamo qualify as "enemy combatants." In previously released versions of the documents, the CIA had removed virtually all references to the abuse of prisoners in their custody; the documents released today are still heavily blacked out but include some new information.
Accused 9/11 mastermind: 'I make up stories' 15 Jun 2009 Accused al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed complained that interrogators tortured lies out of him, according to newly released sections of government transcripts. ''I make up stories,'' Mohammed said at one point in his 2007 hearing at Guantánamo Bay. In broken English, he described an interrogation in which he was asked the location of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. ''Where is he? I don't know,'' Mohammed said. 'Then he torture me. Then I said, 'Yes, he is in this area or this is al Qaeda which I don't know him.' I said no, they torture me.'' Yet at the same military tribunal hearing, Mohammed ticked off a list of 29 terror plots in which he took part.
