Saturday 20th of April 2024

all smoke & mirrors .....

‘Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
of detainees by U.S. forces is widespread and, in many cases, sanctioned by top
government officials, Amnesty International charged Wednesday. 

The allegations, contained in a 32,000-word report released in New York
and London and posted on the human rights organization's Web site, are likely
to influence a U.N. hearing on U.S. compliance with international torture
agreements that begins Friday in Geneva. Amnesty International sent a copy of
the report to the U.N. Committee Against Torture, which is holding the
hearings. 

"Although the U.S. government continues to assert its condemnation
of torture and ill-treatment, these statements contradict what is happening in
practice," said Curt Goering, the group's senior deputy executive director
in the United States. "The U.S. government is not only failing to take
steps to eradicate torture, it is actually creating a climate in which torture
and other ill-treatment can flourish.”’ 

Report
Blames Top US Officials For Alleged Torture Of Detainees

Head CIA spook gives his badge back

From the NYT

C.I.A. Director Goss Resigns

By DAVID STOUT
Published: May 5, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 5 — Porter J. Goss abruptly resigned today as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a post that had been diminished in the restructuring of the intelligence bureaucracy after the Sept. 11 attacks.

With Mr. Goss sitting next to him in the Oval Office, President Bush said the director had offered his resignation this morning. "I've accepted it," Mr. Bush said, praising the retiring director for his "candid advice" and his integrity.

The president said Mr. Goss had led the C.I.A. "ably" through a period of transition, and that he had "helped make this country a safer place." Mr. Bush did not mention a successor, but The Associated Press reported that a senior administration official said one could be chosen as soon as Monday.

Mr. Goss said it had been "a very distinct honor and privilege" to lead the C.I.A. "I would like to report to you that the agency is back on a very even keel and sailing well," Mr. Goss said. He did not explain his decision, and both he and Mr. Bush ignored questions after making their statements.

read more at the NYT

-------------------------------

The article adds... it was no secret in Washington that Mr. Goss and John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence whose position came into existence as the result of the Sept. 11 attacks, had engaged in turf battles. ....

Sounds a bit like a couple off Mafia bosses fighting for territory, while the new Don — an upstart of a kid who had "gunned" his way through the top via the fiddles of the "Florida turf" election with the help of his brother — was only a dummy front man for his daddy and his mates?

turf wars .....

Trouble brewing in the ranks Gus, as the hardliners continue in the ascendancy.

Goss was reputedly a moderate, intent on restoring the CIA's ailing fortunes after they failed to prevent 911, whilst Negroponte is a died-in-the-wool dark side warrior, with an evil reputation in "black ops" across most of south america & in other parts of the united vassal states of amerika.

The fact that Bush "accepted" Goss's resignation is a pretty good indication that the neo-con crazies are still driving the potomac bus & that anyone who is not a 120% bush zealot will find themselves frozen out.

Contrast the polite "tone" of the Goss departure with bushit's hysterical defence of his fellow war criminal & torturer-in-chief, raving Rumsfeld.

Things seem destined to get worse in the home of the "brave" & the land of the "free" before they'll get better, if ever.

fall guy gate .....

buzzflash says ….. 

Was it hookergate? Fall guy gate? Or screwed up big time
gate? For right now, the Bushevkiks are slinging the same old BS. But this is
huge.

Whoa! Bushevik Political Tsunami
Alert: Head of CIA, Porter Goss, Resigns. Of Course, the Question is Why Was
Bush's Enforcer at Langley Dumped So Quickly? So Far, Just the Usual Bush BS on
the Bombshell. There's a BIG Kahuna of a Story Here. 

CIA
Chief Goss Leaves CIA in Latest Change

bomb doors open .....

from buzzflash ….. 

‘If Bush appoints General Hayden
- even if he resigns from the military - as head of the CIA, the conversion of
America from a democracy to an oligarchical military junta will just about be
complete. The irony is that many of the Pentagon brass oppose the madness
"fixed intelligence" war plans of the Busheviks! White House Is
Warned Against Bush Nominee For Head Of CIA
 

But General Hayden, who oversees
the illegal spying on American citizens at the NSA (that is apparently still
going on because the Republicans in Congress won't allow anyone to try and stop
it), is a Bushevik loyalist through and through. He will basically turn the CIA
over to the Negroponte/Rumsfeld/Cheney "we'll pick the wars, you make up
intelligence to justify them" crowd. 

With each new failure, illegality
and lie, the Busheviks are emboldened to higher levels of transgressions and
betrayal, because if you can keep getting away with robbing banks, you would
probably start robbing bigger banks, right? 

So, the Busheviks feel that
George's polling numbers can be in the toilet, but the fact that they are still
unaccountable to anybody is only an indication to them that they are omnipotent
and impervious to public opinion. 

Our headline story this morning
is that UK newspapers are reporting that Bush told his lapdog, Tony Blair, to
fire Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, because Straw called the idea
of nuking Iran "nuts." Did
Bush Force British Minister Out?
 

Well, the nuts are in the White
House, and for the time being, no one knows how to remove them from the bowl. 

As a result, Armageddon may await
us as the bomb doors open and the nukes hit Iran. Then the terrorist attacks on
the United States will be massive.’

No grey matter in the grey market

From the Independent

How arms have become a truly global business
By Kim Sengupta and Jerome Taylor
Published: 10 May 2006
Few businesses have globalised as successfully as the arms trade, with a network of international dealers fuelling dozens of conflicts across the world, according to a new report.

Most of the world's weapons are produced in developed countries and sold to the Third World, soaking up meagre funds badly needed for building infrastructure. The few laws that exist to check this trade are easily circumvented through the elaborate and sophisticated exploitation of every loophole, says the study.

While Western governments consider risking lives of troops on peace-keeping operations in places such as Darfur and Liberia, businessmen based in the West are supplying arms to the conflicts through a highly lucrative "grey market".

read more at the Independent

---------------

bushit values .....

‘This
is not a story about the CIA's secret prisons around the world, but rather a
probe by the European Parliament that Congress's Republican leadership has
refused to authorize here - into CIA "rendition" kidnappings
throughout Europe of suspects sent to countries known for torturing prisoners.
(A number of the victims testified at the European Parliament hearings.)  

One
of the crimes committed by the CIA in these renditions is a violation of U.S.
Code 2441, the War Crimes Act of 1996 condemning torture - and the
international Covenant Against Torture.  

This
European inquiry was started after the Washington Post's Dana Priest
revealed last November that the CIA had secret prisons in Eastern Europe - a
sequel to her many stories about the CIA's far from secret
"renditions." She won a Pulitzer Prize for that November story - as
well as an investigation of her and her sources by the Justice Department.’
 

Europe Shames
US Congress