Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government
27 Jun 2008
http://www.legitgov .org/
All items are here:
http://www.legitgov .org/#breaking_ news
Guantanamo detainees made to feel like 'nomads' 27 Jun 2008 Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are turned into "nomads" to keep them agitated and to punish those who break rules, a Sudanese journalist recently released from the U.S. military prison said Friday. Sami al-Haj said moving prisoners between camps and from cell to cell appeared to be part of an official policy to destabilize them. "They were made into nomads," the Al-Jazeera journalist said.

'I can't talk to you,' Addington said. 'Al Qaeda may watch these meetings.' Key player in waterboarding policy 'smug' under questioning 27 Jun 2008 On Thursday, David S. Addington, a top aide to Vice President [sic] Cheney and alleged master-mind of the legal rationale for harsh techniques torture used against prisoners in the 'war on terrorism,' appeared before a House subcommittee. When Democrats tried to pin him down on the moral and legal issues they considered crucial, Addington brushed them aside with barely concealed disdain. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who later characterized Addington's attitude as "smug," asked whether, if the interrogation program was found to be illegal, he would bear any responsibility. "Is that a moral question or a legal question?" Addington asked, then said he bore no responsibility, legal or moral. Was President [sic] Bush constrained by laws against torture? Addington refused to offer an opinion. Putting the question in extreme terms, Nadler asked Addington if torturing a detainee's child to get information would be legal. "I'm not here to render legal advice to your committee," Addington shot back. "You do have attorneys of your own to give you legal advice."

Lawyer wants world to see Gitmo interrogation --Khadr has maintained that any statements he made to U.S. officials were obtained under torture and are therefore inadmissible. 27 Jun 2008 A lawyer for a Canadian detainee at Guantánamo Bay said Thursday that he expects to release a video of his then-teenaged client being interrogated by Canadian officials, potentially offering the first public footage of an interrogation at the U.S. prison. Nathan Whitling's announcement came a day after Canada's Federal Court ordered the government to hand over the 2003 interrogation video of terrorism suspect Omar Khadr to his defense team... ''The tape shows him crying as he describes being tortured. It shows him showing Canadian officials physical evidence of his abuse and pleading for their help. It's concrete evidence demonstrating the lack of credibility for the case against him,'' said Whitling.

ATF seizes weapons from Blackwater --Investigation concerns how they were obtained 27 Jun 2008 The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized nearly two dozen automatic rifles from Blackwater Worldwide this week, apparently part of an investigation into whether the private security contractor mercenaries obtained them illegally. ATF agents confiscated the guns Tuesday, two days after a story in The News & Observer raised questions about Blackwater's deal to buy 34 guns for the Camden County Sheriff's Office -- nearly two automatic weapons for each of the department's 19 deputies.

Officials: 30,000 troops heading to Iraq in 2009 27 Jun 2008 The Pentagon is preparing to order roughly 30,000 troops to Iraq early next year in a move that would allow the U.S. to maintain 15 combat brigades in the country through 2009, The Associated Press has learned. The deployments would replace troops currently there. But if the top U.S. commander in Iraq [Gen. David Petraeus] decides in the fall that fewer troops will be needed in Iraq during 2009, there is the chance that brigades could simply be directed to the war in Afghanistan instead.

Congress passes $162B spending bill for Iraq, Afghanistan wars --Spending will bring to more than $650 billion the amount Congress has provided for the Iraq war (Blackwater, Big Oil) and a total of nearly $200 billion for operations (opium routes, UNOCAL gas pipeline) in Afghanistan 26 Jun 2008 The Senate passed a $162 billion war spending plan Thursday, sending to President [sic] Bush legislation that will pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until the next president takes office. The Senate, however, narrowly failed to approve a House-passed bill to cancel a scheduled cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

For the Record: Wars have cost $700B since 9/11 27 Jun 2008 A new Congressional Research Service report says the U.S. government has spent about $700 billion on "military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans’ health care for the three operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks."

Iraq family wiped out by US 26 Jun 2008 Six members of a family were killed yesterday when a US jet destroyed their house in Iraq. Four children, aged between four and 11, were among the dead in the attack near the northern town of Tikrit, Iraqi police said. However, the US military made no mention of the civilian deaths and said the house was attacked after troops took small arms fire. [Where is the (genuine) Iraqi resistance?? ?]

US: Arrest made following attack in Karmah, Iraq 27 Jun 2008 A member of an extremist cell believed to be behind a suicide attack that killed more than 20 people including three U.S. Marines has been arrested, the U.S. military said Friday. U.S. spokesmen said it was unclear if the suspect, who was not identified, was directly involved in planning the attack that happened Thursday in the town of Karmah in Anbar province about 30 miles west of Baghdad.

Witnesses link chemical to ill US soldiers --Highly toxic substance used at Iraq plant 21 Jun 2008 US soldiers assigned to guard a crucial part of Iraq's oil infrastructure became ill after exposure to a highly toxic chemical at the plant, witnesses testified at a Democratic Policy Committee hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill. "These soldiers were bleeding from the nose, spitting blood," said Danny Langford, an equipment technician from Texas brought to work at the Qarmat Ali Water treatment plant in 2003. "They were sick. Hundreds of American soldiers at this site were contaminated" while guarding the plant, Langford said, including members of the Indiana National Guard. Langford is one of nine Americans who accuse KBR, the lead contractor on the Qarmat Ali project and one of the largest defense contractors in Iraq, of knowingly exposing them to sodium dichromate, an orange, sandlike chemical that is a potentially lethal carcinogen.

'Losing 10 animals could be as much as 10 percent of the population.' Foreigners Threaten Afghan Snow Leopards --'Raids' on U.S. military bases yielded products from endangered species, including snow leopards 27 Jun 2008 Afghanistan' s snow leopards have barely survived three decades of war. But now the few remaining mountain leopards left in Afghanistan face another threat [thanks to Bush] -- foreigners involved in 'rebuilding' the war-torn country. Despite a complete hunting ban across Afghanistan since 2002, snow leopard furs regularly end up for sale on international military bases and at tourist bazaars in the capital.

DOJ Settles Hatfill Suit for $5.8 Million --Investigators Implicated the Former Army Scientist in the 2001 Anthrax Attacks 27 Jun 2008 The Justice Department has agreed to pay former Army scientist Steven Hatfill almost $6 million to settle his claims that the government violated his privacy rights during its investigation of the [Cheney] 2001 anthrax attacks. The anthrax left five people dead and 17 sickened after mail [from Fort Detrick] containing the toxin arrived on Capitol Hill and at news organizations in Florida and New York.

MI5: revealing areas at mercy of collapsing dams is a terror threat 26 Jun 2008 MI5 and flood risk experts are at odds over whether to publish inundation maps highlighting areas under threat if any of the country's dams were to collapse. The Security Service says that the information could show terrorists where an attack on a dam might have the most impact. Experts in the Cabinet Office and the Environment Agency feel the time has come to make the information public, as the risk of major flooding rises with climate change.

Laptop seizures at customs raise outcry --Complaints from travelers and privacy advocates have spurred lawmakers to challenge the policy of random inspections. 26 Jun 2008 Bill Hogan was returning home to the U.S. from Germany in February when a customs agent at Dulles International Airport pulled him aside. He could reenter the country, she told him. But his laptop couldn't. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents said he had been chosen for "random inspection of electronic media," and kept his computer for about two weeks, recalled Hogan, a freelance journalist from Falls Church, Va... "It's not an inspection. It's a seizure," Hogan said. "What do they do with it? I assume they just copy everything." For several years, U.S. officials have been searching and seizing laptops, digital cameras, cellphones and other electronic devices at the border with few publicly released details.

Justice Antonin Scalia: Al Gore to blame for 2000 US election mess 27 Jun 2008 The 2000 presidential election debacle was the fault of Al Gore, who should have followed Richard Nixon's 1960 example and conceded without legal action, according to the Supreme Court's leading conservative 'judge.' The 2000 election coup d'etat, in which Mr Bush eventually prevailed in pivotal Florida by just 537 votes was selected, remains a potent source of discontent for Democrats. Last month, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said that the election had been stolen by "five intellectually bankrupt judges". [In the *first* place, someone should tell this sociopath that the case is actually Bush v. Gore - *Bush* filed the legal action. Eight days earlier, the US Supreme Court had decided the case of Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board. Again, the legal action was instigated by *Bush.* Moreover, George W. Bush had a fleet of lawyers poised to overturn the 2000 election if Al Gore had won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote - a fact the mainstream media whores buried. In the second place, the only fault of Gore was that he didn't call for the second American Revolution to overthrow the occupiers after the *first* coup d'etat. If Bush was prevented from stealing the presidency in 2000, the 9/11 attacks, Iraq invasion, countless war crimes and thousands of environmental acts of terror would never have happened. --LRP]

Obama and Clinton hold first joint rally 27 Jun 2008 Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton today held their first public event together since Clinton withdrew from the Democratic nomination fight, as they seek to rally Clinton's supporters behind Obama and regroup the Democratic party for the upcoming general election fight. The rally was held in the aptly named town of Unity, New Hampshire, where Obama and Clinton each won 107 votes in the January primary.

Obamas cut check to help Clinton pay off debt --He meets with ex-rival's backers, receives standing ovation for support 27 Jun 2008 Barack Obama announced Thursday that he will help pay off Hillary Rodham Clinton's more than $20 million debt, personally writing a check in a gesture meant to win over her top financial backers. Obama met with more than 200 of Clinton's biggest fundraisers at Washington's Mayflower Hotel, the first step in a two-day push to bring her supporters onboard his general election campaign.

U.S. Stocks Slump, Pushing Dow Average to Brink of Bear Market 27 Jun 2008 U.S. stocks fell, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to the brink of a bear market, on concern subprime-related writedowns at banks will worsen and record oil and a slowing economy will prolong the worst profit decline since 2002. The Dow extended its retreat from an all-time high in October to almost 20 percent, the threshold for a so-called bear market.

Oil near $143 on view dollar will keep falling 27 Jun 2008 Oil futures climbed to a new record near $143 a barrel Friday as the dollar weakened against the euro, confirming expectations that the falling greenback, a major factor in crude's stratospheric rise, will extend its decline and add to oil's appeal.

No ice at the North Pole --Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change 27 Jun 2008 It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

Arctic thaw threatens Siberian permafrost 14 Jun 2008 The permafrost belt stretching across Siberia to Alaska and Canada could start melting three times faster than expected because of the speed at which Arctic Sea ice is disappearing. A study found that the effects of sea-ice loss – which reached an all-time record last summer – extend almost 1,000 miles inland to areas where the ground is usually frozen all year round.

Tell the Bush Administration to grant the polar bear full-fledged protection (NRDC) Most scientists are now warning that global warming could eliminate the polar bear's summer sea-ice habitat by 2040. Without dramatic cutbacks in global warming pollution, Alaska's polar bears could face extinction by 2050. Tell the Bush Administration to close the polluter loopholes and give polar bears full-fledged protection as an endangered species.

U.S. temporarily halts new solar projects --Bureau to 'study' impact on the environment 27 Jun 2008 Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies the environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

US checks if tomatoes caused Salmonella outbreak 27 Jun 2008 As salmonella cases continue to climb, the government is checking if tainted tomatoes really are to blame for the record outbreak -- or if the problem is with another ingredient, or a warehouse that is contaminating newly harvested tomatoes. The widening outbreak -- with 810 people confirmed ill -- means whatever is making people sick could very well still be on the market, federal health officials warned on Friday. [Heckova job, FDA!]

CLG needs your support.
http://www.legitgov .org/#contribute
Or, please mail a check or money order to CLG:
Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG)
P.O. Box 1142
Bristol, CT 06011-1142
Contributions to CLG are not tax deductible.

[Previous lead stories:] Gov't says FBI agents can't testify about 9/11 19 Jun 2008 Government lawyers say the ongoing investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks could be compromised if the airline industry is allowed to seek more information from the FBI to defend itself against lawsuits brought by terrorism victims. In papers filed late Tuesday, the government urged a judge to block aviation companies from interviewing five FBI employees who the companies say will help them prove the government withheld key information before the 2001 attacks.

Pentagon to Consult Academics on Security --Pentagon financing initiative, named Minerva, will award $50 million over five years to U.S. universities 18 Jun 2008 The Pentagon has started an ambitious and unusual program to recruit social scientists and direct the nation’s brainpower to combating fomenting security threats like the Chinese military, Iraq, terrorism and religious fundamentalism. But if the uncustomary push to engage the nation’s evolutionary psychologists, demographers, sociologists, historians and anthropologists in security research -- as well as the prospect of new financial support -- has generated excitement among some scholars, it has also aroused opposition from others, who worry that the Defense Department and the academy are getting too cozy.

U.N.: Opium Trade Soars in Afghanistan 26 Jun 2008 Afghan opium cultivation grew 17 percent last year, continuing a six-year [US] expansion of the country's drug trade and increasing its share of global opium production to more than 92 percent, according to the 2008 World Drug Report, released Thursday by the United Nations.

Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested. Those who'd like to be added to the list can go here: http://www.legitgov .org/#subscribe_ clg and add your name.Those who wish to be removed from the list can access the same link and click 'unsubscribe. '
Please write to: signup@legitgov. org for inquiries/issues/ concerns with your subscription.