Month: April 2004

CBS TV says it has “dozens” of pictures showing a wide range of maltreatment.
Taken by US troops, many of the pictures show American troops watching in apparent approval. CBS says the pictures it obtained show a wide range of abuses, including:

– Prisoners with wires attached to their genitals
– A dog attacking a prisoner
– Prisoners being forced to simulate having sex with each other
– A detainee with an abusive word written on his body.
– An Iraqi standing on a box with wires attached to his hands and told he would be electrocuted if he stepped down.

The Sgt Frederick said he and his fellow reservists had never been told how to deal with prisoners, or what lines should not be crossed. He said he never saw a copy of the Geneva Conventions.

So he thought as a “civilized” US soldier that they could use cruelty, maltreatment, assault and indecent acts against prisoners.

[Via CNN, The Age, Je Blog]

[More: CAIR, American Values]

This simply echos my thoughts in my previous post.
When is anyone going to deal with these Anti-Islamic and Anti-Arab sentiments and remarks?

One thing’s for sure; If they were Anti-semitic ones, this guy would have been wiped off the face of the earth.

[Via: Je Blog]

Fifty-five nations at an international conference have pledged to suppress rising anti-Semitism. (CNN)

I wonder when anyone is going to fight anti-Islamic and anti-Arab sentiments and movements?

Will they ever?

In the darkness of a cinema, a woman’s voice: “Hey! Take your hands off! Not you! YOU!”

This old joke illustrates the American policy regarding nuclear armaments in the Middle East. “Hey, you there, Iraq and Iran and Libya, stop it! Not YOU, Israel!”

The danger of nuclear arms was the main pretext for the invasion of Iraq. Iran is threatened in order to compel it to stop its nuclear efforts. Libya has surrendered and is dismantling its nuclear installations.
So what about Israel?

It has become clear that the Americans are full partners in the creation of Israel’s “nuclear option”.

[More: Vanunu: The Terrible Secret]

People in black trench coats might soon be chasing blogs as US intelligence agencies start to monitor them.

Some blogs are whimsical and deal with “soft” subjects. Others, though, are cutting edge in delivering information and opinion.

As a result, some analysts say U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials might be starting to track blogs for important bits of information. This interest is a sign of how far Web media such as blogs have come in reshaping the data-collection habits of intelligence professionals and others, even with the knowledge that the accuracy of what’s reported in some blogs is questionable.

Still, a panel of folks who work in the U.S. intelligence field – some of them spies or former spies – discussed this month at a conference in Washington the idea of tracking blogs.

Hmmm…
Whatever…

[More: Yahoo! News]
[Via: eclecticism]

Powell has taken the time and effort to explain the definitions of Iraq’s sovereignty.

Simply, any new Iraqi government due to take power on 1 July will have to surrender many of its powers to occupation forces.

“I hope they will understand … some of its [Iraq’s] sovereignty will have to be given back”

Colin Powell, US secretary of state

See? It’s simple.

The US hands over sovereignty to Iraqis on July 1st, hands are shaken, other hands are clapped, pictures are taken, champagne is poured, then the Iraqis give back the sovereignty and what’s left of their dignity to the US, and everybody goes home happy.

[Source: Al Jazeera]