baghdad will burn

if the photos are released, is what he (al-maliki) said

and he may (or may not) be right

i was a proponent of having them released. my reasoning was; we would all be outraged. we would say and MEAN, the united states does NOT torture. we would make those responsible to be held accountable. it looks like none of that will happen.

i will accept the pictures not being released. i will NEVER accept those responsible going free.

THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WE DO NOT TORTURE

Why'd Obama switch on detainee photos? Maliki went ballistic

By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama reversed his decision to release detainee abuse photos from Iraq and Afghanistan after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki warned that Iraq would erupt into violence and that Iraqis would demand that U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq a year earlier than planned, two U.S. military officers, a senior defense official and a State Department official have told McClatchy.

In the days leading up to a May 28 deadline to release the photos in response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, U.S. officials, led by Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told Maliki that the administration was preparing to release photos of suspected detainee abuse taken from 2003 to 2006................

so do you conservative steamin' pieces of shite

(i mean the ones who think it's ok to torture) think raping someone with a lightbulb is going to keep america safe? hmmmmmmmmmmmm

whether it's waterboarding, sleep deprivation, rape...torture is torture. this is the united states of america. WE DO NOT TORTURE.

Unreleased abuse photos depict rape, sexual abuse: report

By Raw Story
Unreleased photographs of alleged abuse by U.S. military personnel of prisoners at Iraqi prisons – which President Obama refused to release earlier this month – include images of rape and sexual abuse, according to a new report.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who in 2004 investigated and wrote a report on allegations of detainee abuse in U.S. prisons in Iraq, has confirmed the existence of graphic photographs depicting the following:

–An American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner.
–A male translator apparently raping a male detainee.
–A female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.

Other photographs depict sexual assaults on prisoners with a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube, according to the Telegraph story.

The still unreleased photos relate to abuse alleged to have taken place between 2001 and 2005 in Abu Ghraib and six other prisons. Taguba, now retired, supports Obama’s decision to block the release of the photos, which Obama had previously said would be released according to a court ruling in support of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU............

i respectfully disagree mr president

i think releasing the photographs and condemning those that committed the atrocities and those that ordered the atrocities will SAVE lives. it will show the world, we as americans will NOT tolerate torture. we as americans DO NOT torture. we as americans will PUNISH THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR TORTURE (and i'm NOT talking the grunts that may have done the physical abuse. i'm talking the big boyz and of course coonnddii as well. make them pay for the disregard they have for america and all she is and all she stands for. make them pay for torture. AMERICA DOES NOT TORTURE)

Obama Shifts on Abuse Photos
Releasing Images of Detainee Mistreatment Would Endanger U.S. Troops, President Says

By Scott Wilson

Washington Post Staff Writer
A month after making public once-classified Justice Department memos detailing the Bush administration's coercive methods of interrogation, President Obama yesterday chose secrecy over disclosure, saying he will seek to block the court-ordered release of photographs depicting the abuse of detainees held by U.S. authorities abroad.
Obama agreed less than three weeks ago not to oppose the photos' release, but he changed his mind after viewing some of the images and hearing warnings from his generals in Iraq and in Afghanistan that such a move would endanger U.S. troops deployed there. .......

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times

did dickens have a hand in writing this story? hmmmmmm

Judge Must Release Woman Sentenced to Jail for Being Poor, ACLU Says in Court Papers

DETROIT – The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan asked for an emergency hearing today on behalf of an Escanaba woman sentenced to 30 days in jail because she is too poor to reimburse the court for her son’s stay in a juvenile detention facility.

“Like many people in these desperate economic times, Ms. Nowlin was laid off from work, lost her home and is destitute,” said Michael J. Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan Legal Director. “Jailing her because of her poverty is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources. It is not a crime to be poor in this country and the government must stop resurrecting debtor’s prisons from the dustbin of history.”

In December 2008, Ms. Nowlin’s 16-year-old son was sentenced to the Bay Pines Center and Ms. Nowlin was ordered to pay $104 per month for his lodging. At the time of this order, Ms. Nowlin was homeless and working part-time with a friend after being laid off from her job. She told the court that she was unable to pay the ordered amount, however the judge found her in contempt for failing to pay. In addition, Ms. Nowlin’s requests for a court appointed attorney were denied..........

from the aclu

a document proving (as if we needed FURTHER proof...well some like that asshole bishop who denies the holocaust are sticking their heads in the sand on this one as well) THE UNITED STATES TORTURES PEOPLE

Unredacted documents reveal prisoners tortured to death
Stephen C. Webster
The American Civil Liberties Union has released previously classified excerpts of a government report on harsh interrogation techniques used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. These previously unreported pages detail repeated use of "abusive" behavior, even to the point of prisoner deaths.

The documents, obtained by the ACLU under a Freedom of Information Act request, contain a report by Vice Admiral Albert T. Church, who was tapped to conduct a comprehensive review of Defense Department interrogation operations. Church specifically calls out interrogations at Bagram Air base in Afghanistan as "clearly abusive, and clearly not in keeping with any approved interrogation policy or guidance."........

unlike da liebs

i KNOW what a pdf is (Lieberman doesn’t know what a PDF is?, hat tip to colin mcenroe for that one. i would have NEVER known that about da liebs otherwise)

but this isn't really about da liebs (steamin' pile o' shite that he is). it's about ANOTHER giant steamin' pile o' shite (well two of 'em; king george and kbr)

a handful of men get brought to trial for (allegedly) killing civilians in iraq. what about all of the (alleged) rapes and OTHER (alleged) murders and (alleged) corruption and (alleged) horrid operational procedures?

hmmmmmmmmm

we'll never know. the big boyz at the top are NEVER going to be held accountable. only a few lowly pawns get thrown under the bus (to appease the masses ?????????????? well I'M NOT appeased)

ACLU: 'Secret courts' conceal fraud by military contractors
Muriel Kane
A law originally intended to encourage whistleblowers may have been used by the Bush Justice Department to cover up allegations of fraud by contractors such as Halliburton spin-off KBR.

In 2007, David Rose's "The People vs. the Profiteers" described a "scandal of epic proportions" involving the alleged suppression of dozens of lawsuits against KBR for alleged massive fraud in Iraq.

Those and similar charges are the basis for a complaint (pdf) filed on Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia, which alleges that secrecy provisions added to the False Claims Act (FCA) in 1986 have been used to keep complaints under seal indefinitely and gag whistleblowers who might otherwise speak out.
.......................

a teeny tiny victory

but one i'll take and one i'm happy about. i don't think there is ANYTHING patriotic about the patriot act (personally)

(by the way, did you know EVERYONE who works for certain insurance companies or financial institutions as well as MOST of their agents {that sell certain products} MUST take a stupid-ass 'class' each year BECAUSE OF THE PATRIOT ACT? well no you didn't did you! the reason for that is something or other about funnelling money into terrorist countries or organizations. fine you say to yourselves. we should not be doing such things. oh, i agree with you 100% BUT MOST INSURANCE COMPANIES AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS had policies in place to prevent THAT AND MUCH MORE PRIOR AND IN SPITE OF the PATRIOT ACT)


Court sides with ACLU, strikes down Patriot Act gag provision
ACLU victorious as federal court declares Patriot Act provision a violation of the First Amendment

A federal appeals court ruling late Monday is the cause célèbre of the American Civil Liberties Union, as another provision of the Bush administration's Patriot Act falls to the judicial system.

Until the ruling, recipients of so-called "national security letters" were legally forbidden from speaking out. The letters, usually a demand for documents, or a notice that private records had been searched by government authorities, were criticized as a cover-all for FBI abuses.

recipients to initiate judicial review of gag orders, holding that the government has the burden to go to court and justify silencing "The appeals court invalidated parts of the statute that wrongly placed the burden on NSLNSL recipients," said the ACLU in a release.......

all i have to say is

keep your fingers (and toes) crossed

Bush Spy Revelations Anticipated When Obama Is Sworn In

By Ryan Singel

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, Americans won't just get a new president; they might finally learn the full extent of George W. Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping.

Since the New York Times first revealed in 2005 that the NSA was eavesdropping on citizen's overseas phone calls and e-mails, few additional details about the massive "Terrorist Surveillance Program" have emerged. That's because the Bush Administration has stonewalled, misled and denied documents to Congress, and subpoenaed the phone records of the investigative reporters.

Now privacy advocates are hopeful that a President Obama will be more forthcoming with information. But for the quickest and most honest account of Bush's illegal policies, they say don't look to the incoming president. Watch instead for the hidden army of would-be whistle-blowers who've been waiting for Inauguration Day to open the spigot on the truth.

"I'd bet there are a lot of career employees in the intelligence agencies who'll be glad to see Obama take the oath so they can finally speak out against all this illegal spying and get back to their real mission," says Caroline Fredrickson, the ACLU's Washington D.C. legislative director.............

what a guy!

don't worry, he's not JUST racist, he's a misogynist too!

there is so much to say, but at the same time, i have to just shut up now. my mind is almost at the melting point (not just about this, but EVERYTHING)

Metairie lawmaker considers bill to fund sterilizations

by Richard A. Webster Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS - State Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, fears Louisiana may be headed toward an economic crisis if the percentage of people dependent on the government is not decreased.

His solution: pay impoverished women $1,000 to have their tubes tied so they will stop having babies they can’t afford.

The idea came to LaBruzzo after hurricanes Katrina and Gustav when the state was forced to evacuate, shelter and care for tens of thousands of people.

"I realized that all these people were in Louisiana's care and what a massive financial responsibility that is to the state," LaBruzzo said. "I said, 'I wonder if it might be a good idea to pay some of these people to get sterilized.'"

LaBruzzo said he is researching the issue, and if he finds that the number of people on welfare has increased on a dramatic and continuous basis over the past several decades, he may introduce a bill during the next legislative session promoting voluntary sterilization in exchange for monetary compensation.......

...........

Reaction to LaBruzzo's proposal has been swift. It has been called racist and reminiscent of the genocidal policies of the Nazis.

Shana Griffin, interim director of the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic, described it as a modern day version of eugenics, a theory that promotes improving humanity’s future by decreasing the number of babies produced by people who are seen as physically, socially or mentally deficient.............

question

why is it 'they' (by 'they' i mean some right wingers) insist the democrats and barack obama in particular had/have something to do with how people (protesters, etc) were treated at the dnc?

like barack obama has ANYTHING to do with the denver police and law enforcement agencies.

i have heard this wingnuts claim everything in the book. it's just ridiculous

Protesters denied access to attorneys, forced to march in leg shackles, ACLU charges
John Byrne
The ACLU issued a stinging rebuke to the Denver Police Department Wednesday, alleging that the department may have violated laws and constitutional rights of protesters arrested outside the Democratic National Convention.

In the letter, obtained by RAW STORY, the ACLU revealed that the police refused those arrested access to attorneys. Police did not let detainees use phones unless they posted their own bonds, and even failed to provide shoes, in one case marching a protester into court in bare feet and leg shackles, according the ACLU.

What's more, police are said to have tricked protesters into pleading guilty, by giving them the impression they had to plead guilty in order to post bond. This meant that no one was allowed to make a phone call unless they plead guilty, thus making it impossible for arrestees to even call a lawyer until admitting guilt.

Most ominously, the ACLU letter claims that protesters were told they would be "facing 'years' in jail for a conviction of a single particular charge."..........

constitution?

we don't need no stinkin' constitution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rawstory.com/news/2008/FISA_court_rejects_ACLU_request_for_0829.html">FISA court rejects ACLU request for transparency

A court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act denied an ACLU motion Thursday that would have increased public scrutiny of how the Bush administration's new spying law is reviewed, according to a statement released Friday.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the motion 10 hours after President Bush signed the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) into law July 10, requesting that any further proceedings that might question the law's constitutionality be revealed to the public, according to an ACLU press release.

The organization also asked to participate in the hearings and submit briefs to court, which was denied as well.

"It's disappointing that the intelligence court intends to adjudicate these important legal issues in complete secrecy," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. "The new surveillance law affects all of us because it allows the executive branch virtually unfettered access to the international telephone and email communications of U.S. citizens and residents."....

on the history channel the other day

i saw a listing for a documentary on torture (i think it was the history channel). i thought i'd give it a whirl. it had already started so i didn't see it from the beginning. i actually didn't see more than about 12 or 13 minutes of it actually. was that because it was such a poorly presented show? hell no. it was BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT TORTURE. the part i hit upon was wwii and some khmer rouge cambodian stuff. my hair stood on end. what they were presenting wasn't new to me. it just hurts more each time i hear, read about it or see it. TORTURE IS WRONG. torture is against humanity as a whole. i'm not skilled enough at writing to say it any deeper than i just did. torture is wrong. period

ACLU: Memos authorized CIA torture
Nick Juliano
As long as CIA agents could convince themselves they were not deliberately inflicting severe pain or suffering on detainees, they were free to do virtually anything in their questioning of suspected terrorists, including waterboarding. Furthermore, the agents' belief they weren't in fact torturing their captives didn't even need to be "reasonable."

These are the implications of a controversial August 2002 memo from the Justice Department to the CIA that was released Thursday. The American Civil Liberties Union obtained several internal Bush administration documents it says authorizes the CIA to torture detainees.

“These documents supply further evidence, if any were needed, that the Justice Department authorized the CIA to torture prisoners in its custody,” Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project, said in a news release. “The Justice Department twisted the law, and in some cases ignored it altogether, in order to permit interrogators to use barbaric methods that the U.S. once prosecuted as war crimes.”.........

more humor that's real

Prosecutor turned up on US terror watch list

By LARA JAKES JORDAN – 13 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The name of the Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor turned up on the government's terror watch list.........

i like the title of this: peace takes courage (it does you know)

"video

By Brave Nation

It's hard to call someone younger than 18 years old a "legend," but Ava Lowery is just that in progressive circles. She created a website at fourteen where she made videos railing against the war in Iraq. Today, her site, peacetakescourage.com, gets nearly two million hits per month. And she doesn't live in a liberal hotbed like San Francisco or New York, rather in a small town in Alabama. Anthony Romero is the son of Puerto Rican emigrants and grew up to not only be the first in his family to go to college, but to become the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union--the first Latino and openly gay head of the venerable organization, and someone we thought Ava should have on her cell phone speed dial. Just in case. Together they discuss the legal quagmire the country has sunk into since 9/11, among other quagmires created by George W. Bush and his Administration. .........

signed, sealed and delivered

the right for OUR people to torture THEIR people
remember, we're NOT animals. we're NOT savages.
(think how you'd feel if those being tortured were YOUR sons and daughters)
US Special Forces Doused Detainees with cold water and sent them out into freezing cold to die...
....................Special Operations officers in Gardez admitted to using what are known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) techniques, which for decades American service members experienced as training to prepare for the brutal treatment they might face if captured.
Today’s documents reveal charges that Special Forces beat, burned, and doused eight prisoners with cold water before sending them into freezing weather conditions. One of the eight prisoners, Jamal Naseer, died in U.S. custody in March 2003. In late 2004, the military opened a criminal investigation into charges of torture at Gardez. Despite numerous witness statements describing the evidence of torture, the military’s investigation concluded that the charges of torture were unsupported. It also concluded that Naseer’s death was the result of a “stomach ailment,” even though no autopsy had been conducted in his case. Documents uncovered today also refer to sodomy committed by prison guards; the victims’ identities are redacted.
“These documents raise serious questions about the adequacy of the military’s investigations into prisoner abuse,” added Singh. .................

you know that package of cookies your moms sent you?

well big brother knows about it as well (no surprises but i keep posting these stories because i am in disbelief. NOT that it's happening BUT BECAUSE IT'S BEING ALLOWED TO HAPPEN WITH NO PROTESTS)
Officials monitor thousands of letters without warrants
John Byrne
The US postal service approves more than 10,000 requests from US law enforcement each year to record names, addresses and other information from the outside of packages, according to information released through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The warrantless surveillance mail program -- as it is known -- requires only the approval of the US Postal Inspection Service Director, and not a judge.
Since 1998, the inspector has approved more than 97% of requests during criminal inquiries, new documents show. According to USA Today, which filed the request, "In 2004, 2005 and 2006, the most recent year provided, officials granted at least 99.5% of requests."
"The idea of the government tracking that amount of mail is quite alarming," Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's national security project Jameel Jaffer told the paper. "When you realize that (the figure) does not include national security matters, the numbers are even more alarming."..........

if you can, wear orange tomorrow

(for the record, i think terrorists INCLUDING DOMESTIC TERRORISTS SUCH AS THOSE WHO BLOW UP ABORTION CLINICS, should be locked up and have the key thrown away. for the record, i believe in the geneva convention and the constitution of the united states of america. for the record i believe in habeus corpus. for the record i do NOT believe in torture)

"We do not condone torture. I have never ordered torture. I will never order torture."— George W. Bush

Torture and indefinite detention are shamefully un-American.WEAR ORANGE January 11 and protest the shame that is Guantánamo Bay.

JANUARY 11, 2008, is the six-year anniversary of the first arrival of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.

On January 11, we are calling on everyone opposed to torture and indefinite detention to WEAR ORANGE to symbolize their sadness and disgust with the national shame that is Guantánamo Bay.
Download the CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO Toolkit now to find out how you can organize for January 11 at home, in your office, on campus, in your community, and online. Learn More About Guantánamo >> .........

Inside Guantánamo

Text by Andrew Sullivan, Photos by Louie Palu

In his famous essay “A Hanging,” George Orwell wrote of witnessing an execution in British-run Burma:
It was about forty yards to the gallows. I watched the bare brown back of the prisoner marching in front of me … And once, in spite of the men who gripped him by each shoulder, he stepped slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path. It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. .........

A member of the U.S. military reflected in rainwater in a detainee recreation area in Camp One. An arrow gives the direction and distance (12,793 kilometers) to Mecca for Muslim detainees who wish to worship. A leaked logbook of the interrogation of Mohammed al-Qahtani, a high-value detainee, records the following techniques: he was interrogated for 18 to 20 hours a day for 48 of 54 days; he was doused with water and kept in a room air-conditioned to induce hypothermia; he was hooded and menaced by a dog; he was injected with fluids and forced to urinate on himself. All of these interrogation methods were personally approved by then–Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

i carry my camera with me 24/7

i feel naked without it (sort of like how i feel without my jewelry). i take pictures. i LIKE to take pictures. my skin isn't very dark though, so i guess it's ok

New York City sued for harassing photographers
By Edith Honan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City police officers need better training to distinguish between law-abiding citizens who snap pictures of city landmarks and those suspected of plotting terrorism, a lawsuit filed on Thursday by the New York Civil Liberties Union said.
The lawsuit was filed against the city and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly on behalf of Arun Wiita, 26, a Columbia University graduate student of Indian descent who said he was handcuffed and detained after a police officer spotted him snapping pictures near a Manhattan subway station in July.
The civil liberties union said the department has harassed photographers, "particularly those who fit Middle Eastern or South Asian racial and ethnic profiles," according to papers filed in federal court.
"There has been a constant refrain that we've heard from the photography community for several years now," said Christopher Dunn, NYCLU associate legal director and the lead attorney on the case...........

silly me

i thought the president (or king in this case) of the united states worked for ME and the rest of the citizens of this land. i thought this was a free america where we had a constitution and freedoms and rights. including the freedoms and rights to speak out if we feel there are wrongs and injustices. i thought since the king worked for US, we had a right to express our feelings DIRECTLY TO HIM.

little did i know..........
out of sight out of HIS F**KING MIND
White House Manual Details How to Deal With Protesters


By Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writer
Not that they're worried or anything. But the White House evidently leaves little to chance when it comes to protests within eyesight of the president. As in, it doesn't want any.
A White House manual that came to light recently gives presidential advance staffers extensive instructions in the art of "deterring potential protestors" from President Bush's public appearances around the country.
Among other things, any event must be open only to those with tickets tightly controlled by organizers. Those entering must be screened in case they are hiding secret signs. Any anti-Bush demonstrators who manage to get in anyway should be shouted down by "rally squads" stationed in strategic locations. And if that does not work, they should be thrown out.
But that does not mean the White House is against dissent -- just so long as the president does not see it. ......

aclu