Judge dismisses lawsuit against Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON – Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cannot be tried on allegations of torture in overseas military prisons, a federal judge said Tuesday in a case he described as “lamentable.”

U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan threw out a lawsuit brought on behalf of nine former prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Rumsfeld cannot be held personally responsible for actions taken in connection with his government job.

Pathetic.

Insurgents loot arms dumps

Iraqi arms dumps overrun by coalition forces in 2003 were still being looted by insurgents in search of explosives and ammunition as late as last October, according to a damning new report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The watchdog GAO also claims that a shortage of military manpower to guard Saddam-era weapons depots meant that insurgents were left free to strip more than 400 sites of lethal hardware for a guerrilla campaign which has killed more than 3000 American and 134 British soldiers.

Don’t fret, however. The Ministry of Oil is safe.

Iran would be attacked at the beginning of April (Russian military experts)

03/26/07 — – MOSCOW, March 19 – RIA Novosti. The Russian military experts estimate that the planning of the American military attack against Iran passed the point of nonreturn on February 20, when the director of the IAEA, Mohammed El Baradei, recognized, in his report/ratio, the incapacity of the Agency “to confirm the peaceful character of the nuclear program of Iran”.

According to the Russian weekly magazine Argoumenty nedeli, a military action will proceed during the first week of April, before Easter catholic and orthodoxe (this year they are celebrated the 8), when the “Western opinion” is on leave. It may be also that Iran is struck Friday 6, public holiday in the Moslem countries. According to the American diagram, it will be a striking of only one day which will last 12 hours, 4 hours of morning to 16 hours of afternoon. The code name of the operation is to date “English Cock” (Bite). A score of Iranian installations should be touched. With their number, centrifugal machines of uranium enrichment, centers of studies and laboratories. But the first block of the nuclear thermal power station of Bouchehr will not be touched. On the other hand, the Americans will neutralize the DCA, will run several Iranian buildings of war in the Gulf and will destroy the key positions of command of the armed forces.

DOJ official won’t testify about firings

WASHINGTON – A senior aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has decided against testifying before lawmakers about her role in the ousters of eight federal prosecutors, the latest flare-up in the controversy surrounding the Justice Department.

“The American people are left to wonder what conduct is at the base of Ms. Goodling’s concern that she may incriminate herself in connection with criminal charges if she appears before the committee under oath,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Indeed we do. My, it’s fun watching this train wreck.

Leahy’s committee has authorized subpoenas for presidential political adviser Karl Rove and other top White House staff linked to the firings. Bush wants his aides to be interviewed in private sessions and without being placed under oath.Specter and Hagel have joined Democrats in rejecting the president’s offer, while Graham and Lott said lawmakers should take it. “If you start subpoenaing the advisers to the president … you’re going to go to court,” Graham said.

It appears a High Noon scenario is shaping up on Capital Hill. The next two years of King George’s reign will be determined by how this issue of congressional oversight plays out. If the wimps in Congress roll over and let their tummies get scratched and bow down to Bush’s “reasonable proposal”, they might as well just sit around and play cards for the next two years, since they won’t be able to investigate the crimes of the Bush administration, halt the war, restore fiscal sanity or any of the things they were elected to do.

On the other hand, if the cabal of King George is forced to testify under oath? Bush is gone within a year, Cheney and Gonzales within 6 months. This is the fight the White House wants, and has wanted, since day 1. If they “win” this, then they are truly unstoppable, and if they so desire, will just remain at their desks, warring and looting, come 1.10.09.

They want a war? Bring it on.

Kissinger’s extradition to Uruguay sought over Operation Condor

MONTEVIDEO (AFP) – An attorney for a victim of Uruguay’s 1973-1985 dictatorship has asked his government to request the extradition of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger over his alleged role in the notorious Operation Condor.

The Latin American dictatorships of the time “were mere executors” of a “plan of extermination” hatched in the United States by a group led by Kissinger, said attorney Gustavo Salle, who represents the family of Bernardo Arnone.

May the chickens finally come home to roost for this mad butcher.

Did ya miss us?

Copyright 2007 Nancy Mullis

TTP and the lovely LH are fleeing the state to go here, and hang with the spirit of this guy.

See ya in a week, with loads of new pics…

What, really, is eliminationism?

It’s a fairly self-explanatory term: it describes a kind of politics and culture that shuns dialogue and the democratic exchange of ideas for the pursuit of outright elimination of the opposing side, either through complete suppression, exile and ejection, or extermination.

A must read look into the mindset that begats this:

So, in the school of what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, we are providing this link so YOU may help the blogosphere in locating the homes (perhaps with photos?) of the editors and reporters of the New York Times.

Go hunt them down and do America a favor. Get their photo, street address, where their kids go to school, anything you can dig up, and send it to the link above. This is your chance to be famous — grab for the golden ring.

In essence, the FBI and our nation’s telecommunications companies have secretly created a framework whereby the FBI can obtain — instantaneously and without limits — any information it asks for. The Patriot Act already substantially expanded the circumstances under which the FBI can obtain such records without the need for subpoenas or any judicial process, and it left in place only the most minimal limitations and protections. But it is those very minimal safeguards which the FBI continuously violated in order to obtain whatever information its agents desired, about any Americans they targeted, with literally no limits of any kind.

Continue with Glenn Greenwald’s The significance of the FBI’s law-breaking