More War Crimes.....

Gregoire Seither said, and I totally agree with his query:

The English reporting on this incident is very spotty by the way. No mention that the soldiers confiscated the phones after the killing, no mention that there were two cars in the convoy and the first one had been let through, hardly a mention that it wasn't a checkpoint but a patrol that shot them, hardly a mention that the witnesses all say that, contrary to what the Army says, no signs or wavings were made by the soldiers who simply shone a light at the car and started shooting.

Assassination politics by the US Army ? It wouldn't be the first time...

Why do they say it was a checkpoint when it was a patrol ? Why does the State Department lie pretending they didn't know the journalist had been freed and was on its way to the airport when the Italian negotiators had been in permanent contact with the US Embassy in Baghdad ? Why do they pretend they shot into the engine block when the back seat passengers were targeted ?

--- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/06/wirq06.xml&s Sheet=/news/2005/03/06/ixhome.html

>>Companion of Freed Italian Journalist Says U.S. Attack Was Deliberate The U.S. attack on the convoy carrying freed Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena to the Baghdad airport and on to her home in Italy was "deliberate" according to Sgrena's companion, Pier Scolari. As Scolari was leaving the military hospital in Rome where the journalist is being treated he insisted that both the Americans and the Italians were well aware that she was traveling on that particular route to the airport.

Scolari went on to say that the shootings were deliberate. "They were 700 meters from the airport which means that they had passed all checkpoints," he stated adding, "Giuliana had information, and the US military did not want her to survive."

Scolari added, "(the) last 24 hours have been hell with the murderous attack of the armored Americans who shot 300-400 rounds against her car, without reason".

At the time of Sgrena's kidnapping in February she had been researching and writing articles focusing on the Fallujah refugees who were forced to seek shelter in a mosque in Baghdad.

Italian Hostage Returns Home After 2nd Brush With Death

Well, we wanted evidence that they were firing on journalists, but I didn't think they'd give it to us on a golden platter.....

GW
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Italian Hostage Returns Home After 2nd Brush With Death
By EDWARD WONG and JASON HOROWITZ

Published: March 5, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Saturday, March 5 - American soldiers guarding a checkpoint here fired Friday night on an approaching car carrying a kidnapped Italian journalist who had just been released, wounding the journalist and killing an Italian intelligence agent, according to American and Italian officials."
continued......

Rumsfeld named in suit alleging torture by U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan

Rumsfeld named in suit alleging torture by U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan

By The Associated Press

03/01/05 WASHINGTON - AP - Two human rights groups filed a lawsuit today against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on behalf of eight men allegedly tortured by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

'Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility' because he 'personally signed off' on policies guiding prisoner treatment, said American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony Romero.

A number of other lawsuits also are pending against Rumsfeld, military commanders and civilian contractors in the abuse scandal, which broke last spring with the disclosure of photographs showing American military men and women abusing prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

At a Washington news conference, the ACLU and Human Rights First said the suit was filed in Rumsfeld's home state of Illinois and alleged the eight men suffered physical and psychological injuries while incarcerated in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It alleged that they were subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment while there, including severe and repeated beatings, cutting with knives, sexual humiliation and assault, mock executions, death threats, and restraint in contorted and excruciating positions.

Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press "

Standing up to U.S. will gain us respect abroad

Standing up to U.S. will gain us respect abroad

By Linda McQuaig

02/27/05 'Toronto Star' - - It's now clear how the Bush administration sees things: Canadian sovereignty exists only at its pleasure. If we do what Washington wants, we retain our sovereignty. If we don't, all bets are off.

This is what U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci clarified last week in his angered response to Paul Martin's announcement that Canada won't join the U.S. missile defence scheme. Cellucci noted that Washington would simply deploy its anti-missile system over Canadian airspace anyway, and expressed puzzlement over Canada's decision to 'in effect, give up its sovereignty.'

No doubt the Soviets felt similar puzzlement as they rolled into Czechoslovakia in 1968. What's with these crazy Czechs? Don't they get it? All they have to do is co-operate with Moscow and they can retain their 'sovereignty.'

Canadian advocates of missile defence have long argued that joining the scheme is the best way to protect our sovereignty — the logic apparently being that Washington is going to intrude into our airspace anyway, so it's better if we look like that's what we wanted all along. It's only rape if you resist.

Fortunately the Martin government, under enormous pressure from the public, the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, ignored this convoluted logic. After months of dithering on the issue, Ottawa showed surprising spunk last week in standing up to the American empire — a spunkiness that will only improve our standing in a world increasingly alarmed by U.S. unilateralism. "

Continued........

[Fwd: [NEWSROOM-L] Blog award]

http://wampum.wabanaki.net/archives/001748.html

February 23, 2005

2004 Koufax Award Winners

The time has finally come to announce the winners of the 2004 Koufax Awards.

http://www.thepoorman.net/archives/002789.html June 20, 200

4

POKER WITH DICK CHENEY

transcript of The Editors' regular Saturday-night poker game with Dick Cheney, 6/19/04. Start tape at 12:32 AM.

The Editors: We'll take three cards.

Dick Cheney: Give me one.

Sounds of cards being placed down, dealt, retrieved, and rearranged in hand. Non-commital noises, puffing of cigars.

TE: Fifty bucks.

DC: I'm in. Show 'em.

TE: Two pair, sevens and fives.

DC: Not good enough.

TE: What do you have?

DC: Better than that, that's for sure. Pay up.

TE: Can you show us your cards?

DC: Sure. One of them's a six.

TE: You need to show all your cards. That's the way the game is played.

Colin Powell: Ladies and gentlemen. We have accumulated overwhelming evidence that Mr. Cheney's poker hand is far, far better than two pair. Note this satellite photo, taken three minutes ago when The Editors went to get more chips. In it we clearly see the back sides of five playing cards, arranged in a poker hand. Defector reports have assured us that Mr. Cheney's hand was already well advanced at this stage. Later, Mr. Cheney drew only one card. Why only one card? Would a man without a strong hand choose only one card? We are absolutely convinced that Mr. Cheney has at least a full house.

Tim Russert: Wow. Colin Powell really hit a homerun for the Administration right there. A very powerful performance. My dad played a lot of poker in World War 2, and he taught me many things about life. Read my book.

TE: He's extremely good at Power Point. But we would like to see the cards, or else we can't really be sure he has anything to beat two pair. We don't think he would lie to us, but ... well, it is a very rich pot.

Jonah Goldberg: Liberal critics of Mr. Cheney's poker hand contend that "he doesn't have anything". Oh, really, liberal critics? Cheney has already showed them the six of clubs, and yet these liberals persist in saying he has "nothing". Why do liberals consider the six of clubs to be "nothing"? Is it because the six of clubs is black?

Matt Drudge: ****DRUDGE REPORT EXCLUSIVE**** *****MUST CREDIT THE DRUDGE REPORT***** The Drudge Report has learned that Dick Cheney has a royal flush, hearts. Developing ...

TE: Perhaps if you could just show us a subset of your cards which beat 2 pair? Or tell us exactly what your hand is?

DC: We will show you our cards after we have collected the pot. It is important that things be done in this order, otherwise the foundation of our entire poker game will be destroyed.

TE: We aren't sure ...

DC: Very good. And here are my cards. A straight flush.

Judith Miller: Dick Cheney has revealed a straight flush, confirming his pre-collection claims about beating two pair.

TE: Those cards are of different suits. It's not a flush.

Mark Steyn: When will it end? Now liberal critics complain that Dick Cheney's cards are not all the same suit. Naturally, these are the same liberals who are always whining about a lack of diversity in higher education. It seems like segregation is OK with these liberals, as long as it damages Republicans.

MD: ****DRUDGE REPORT EXCLUSIVE**** *****MUST CREDIT THE DRUDGE REPORT***** A witness has come forward claiming that The Editors engage in racial profiling in blog-linking. Developing ...

TE: Wait! It's not even a straight! You've got a eight and ten of hearts, a six of clubs, and the seven and five of diamonds. You have a ten high. That's nothing.

Sean Hannity: Well, well, well. In another sign of liberal desperation, liberals now complain that a ten high is "nothing". Does ten equal zero in liberal mathematics? That would explain a lot.

Robert Novak: It's a perfectly valid poker hand. Apparently, liberals have never heard of a "skip straight". It's a kind of straight, just with one card missing. But if you skip around the missing nine, it's a straight.

Alan Colmes: Mother says I mustn't play poker.

TE: There is no such thing as a "skip straight".

Brit Hume: It seems like some people are still playing poker like it's September 10th. Back then, you needed to have all your cards in order to claim a straight. But, as we learned on that day, sometimes you won't have perfect knowledge. Sometimes you have to learn to connect the dots, and see the patterns which are not visible to superficial analysis of the type favored by the CIA and the State Department. Dick Cheney's skip straight is a winning poker hand for the post-9/11 world.

Rush Limbaugh: Do The Editors have two pairs, or a pair of twos? First they say one thing, then another. What are they hiding?

Andrew Sullivan: Dick Cheney never said he had a straight. He was very careful about this. His cards can form many different hands. None of these hands alone can beat a pair of twos; but, taken together, the combination of all possible hands presents a more compelling case for taking the pot than simply screaming "Pair of twos! Pair of twos!" as unprincipled liberal critics of the Vice President so often do.

MD: ****DRUDGE REPORT EXCLUSIVE**** *****MUST CREDIT THE DRUDGE REPORT***** Did The Editors claim to have "a pair of Jews"? Are they anti-Semites as well as racists? Developing ...

Zell Miller: As a lifelong liberal Democrat, I believe Dick Cheney, and I hate liberals and Democrats.

William Safire: Why are liberals so obsessed by Dick Cheney's poker hand? The pot has been taken, the deal is done. If liberals are upset that we are no longer playing by the Marquis of Queensbury patty-cake poker rules, they clearly lack the stomach to play poker in the post-September 11th environment. And why do they never complain about Saddam Hussein's poker playing, which was a thousand times worse?

Christopher Hitchens: The Left won't be happy until the pot is divided up equally between Yassar Arafat, Osama bin Laden, and Hitler. Orwell would have seen this.

Ann Coulter: Why do liberals object so strenuously to the idea of conservatives having a "straight"? Perhaps because it doesn't fit in with the radical homosexual/Islamist agenda they hold so dear?

Report of the Bipartisan Commission on Poker Hands: There is no such thing as a "skip straight".

DC: I have access to poker rules that the Commission doesn't, and so I know for a fact that the cards in my hand are all intimately connected.

George W. Bush: Dick Cheney is telling the truth. I'm a nice man who would drink a beer with you.

Vladimir Putin: I dealt Dick Cheney three aces and two kings.

DC: My deal.