What Bush does so well: Trampling the American flag
Like he’s been doing for five long years, President Bush tramples the American flag this September 11th.
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Archive for September 11th, 2006
Horrible state of healthcare in Lebanon
The World Health Organization reports shows that Lebanon health facilities have suffered considerable damage.
“In some areas of Lebanon, people simply cannot access a functioning health facility. Either it has been seriously damaged, or doesn’t have the water, fuel or supplies required to provide life-saving services including emergency obstetric care…,” said Dr Ala Alwan, the WHO Director-General’s Representative for Health Action in Crises….
The assessment finds that damage to buildings varies drastically from one place to another. In total, 26% of all health facilities are not functioning due to physical damage, lack of staff or lack of accessibility. A total of 12 buildings were totally destroyed and 38 severely damaged, with the most damage in Bent Jbeil, followed by Marjayoun, Nabatieh and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Moreover, the assessment shows that serious shortages of fuel, power supply and drinking water continue. In general, only one third of health facilities have potable water, and just one in four remain linked to the general sewerage system or to a power supply. Meanwhile 31% use generators but less than one in five has enough fuel to run them.
A priority for any “reconstruction” is obviously to repair the extensive damage to the health sector. On can, of course, only dream that those responsible for the damage will be punished. After all, international law in the modern world is only for loosers.
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Robert Scheer on the mysteries of 9/11
In contrast to the 9/11 conspiracy folks, who debate crater size and burn rate, Robert Scheer points out the real Gaping Holes in the 9/11 Narrative.
While funds for Al Qaeda emanated from the Saudi kingdom, the essential logistical support for Al Qaeda came from Pakistan. Now, five years later, bin Laden and the remnants of his organization are assumed by the United States to have found refuge in Pakistan’s unruly tribal region, where the Pakistan government recently has reduced its forces, conceding that it could not defeat local tribesmen sympathetic to the Taliban.
Nor has there been any credible accounting of the role of Pakistan’s intelligence community, then and now, in support of Islamic terrorists on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border. Or in the passage of Pakistan’s nuclear secrets to what Bush refers to as “rogue nations.”
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Radio interview Tuesday
I will be on interviewed on radio station KPFK 90.7FM LA tomorrow about my latest article on the American Psychological Association and national security interrogations. The show does from 5-6 Pacific time (8:00-9:00 Eastern time. Corrected). I’m supposed to come on around 8:25 Eastern for 20 minutes.
It can be listed to on the Web at http://www.kpfk.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=260&Itemid=82&lang=en
[In testing, I found that the Windows Media Player link worked best.]
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Torturers buy legal insurance
Perhaps there will be justice after all. The Washington Post reports that CIA officers are purchasing legal insurance, in case they are indicted for crimes such as torture:
CIA counterterrorism officers have signed up in growing numbers for a government-reimbursed, private insurance plan that would pay their civil judgments and legal expenses if they are sued or charged with criminal wrongdoing, according to current and former intelligence officials and others with knowledge of the program.
The new enrollments reflect heightened anxiety at the CIA that officers may be vulnerable to accusations they were involved in abuse, torture, human rights violations and other misconduct, including wrongdoing related to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They worry that they will not have Justice Department representation in court or congressional inquiries, the officials said.
The anxieties stem partly from public controversy about a system of secret CIA prisons in which detainees were subjected to harsh interrogation methods, including temperature extremes and simulated drowning. The White House contends the methods were legal, but some CIA officers have worried privately that they may have violated international law or domestic criminal statutes.
Details of the rough interrogations could come to light if trials are held for any of the approximately 100 detainees who were held in the prisons. President Bush announced last week that he had transferred the last 14 detainees in the facilities to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and had submitted a proposal to Congress for the rules under which the administration would like the suspects to be tried.
Terrorism suspects’ defense attorneys are expected to argue that admissions made by their clients were illegally coerced as the result of policies set in Washington.
Justice Department political appointees have strongly backed the CIA interrogations. But “there are a lot of people who think that subpoenas could be coming” from Congress after the November elections or from federal prosecutors if Democrats capture the White House in 2008, said a retired senior intelligence officer who remains in contact with former colleagues in the agency’s Directorate of Operations, which ran the secret prisons….
The article goes on to indicate that these guys realize what they are doing is illegal:
Several former intelligence officials who said CIA officers do not need insurance because they can rely on the government to defend their lawful actions depicted the growing number of policies as a barometer of the uncertainty officers have of the legality of their work.
A recently retired CIA officer who said he had not bought insurance contended that “if an individual does get sued in the course of their official duties, then you get the biggest law firm in the world to step in” — the Justice Department. Justice regulations allow defending federal workers if the conduct is within the scope of an employee’s job and doing so is in the government’s “interest.” [emphasis added.]
No indication is given of whether top administration officials, from the President on down, are also buying legal insurance for their role in turning the United States into a torturing society.
Add comment September 11th, 2006