Use "Ctrl F" [control F]
to FIND what you're looking for. "Right Click" - "Open in New
Window." to avoid reloading this page.
2006
History News History Archives - 2006
News
Noteworthy
- Japan- US
- World
- Auto
- Technology
- Workers
- Politics- History
- Fuel
- "Toyota’s
Sales Projections Show It Surpassing G.M.." ... "Toyota
Motor said today it plans to sell 9.34 million vehicles next year, a figure
that analysts said would put it ahead of troubled General Motors as the
world’s largest auto company." ... "Toyota reported global group sales
this year of 8.8 million cars and trucks, below G.M.’s 2006 sales forecast
of 9.2 million vehicles. But the figures released today showed the two
rival car giants on starkly different trajectories, with Toyota expecting
to add a half million vehicle sales next year, at a time when G.M. is shuttering
plants and laying off workers." ... "Surpassing G.M. would be a crowning
achievement for Toyota, a company that got its start in the 1930s by reverse-engineering
G.M. and Ford cars, and that spent decades catching up with Detroit. It
would also end G.M.’s 81-year reign over the global auto industry, and
mark another step in the rise of Asian carmakers." ... "Analysts also said
reaching the top would not exhaust Toyota’s opportunities for growth. They
said Toyota will continue to gain in the American market, where higher
gas prices have increased the popularity of smaller, more fuel-efficient
vehicles." ... "Toyota’s rise would also prove a victory of sorts for its
unique corporate culture, the so-called Toyota Way, which is rooted in
an obsession with craftsmanship and constant improvement, or “kaizen.”"
-By Martin Fackler -NYTimes
20061110
US
- Government
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- Privacy
- Environment
- Health
- Seniors
- Drugs
- Oil
- Industry
- Legal
- History
- Missouri
- "Democrats
are set to subpoena: The new majority is expected
to hold hearings on military spending and the Iraq war -- just for starters."
... "[Missouri Democrat] Rep. Ike Skelton knows what he will do in one
of his first acts as chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the Democratic-led
House: resurrect the subcommittee on oversight and investigations." ...
"The panel was disbanded by the Republicans after they won control of Congress
in 1994. Now, Skelton (D-Mo.) intends to use it as a forum to probe Pentagon
spending and the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war." ... "With
control of every committee in Congress starting in January, the new majority
will inherit broad powers to subpoena and investigate. And that is expected
to translate into wide-ranging and contentious hearings." ... "The agenda
is likely to be dominated by the Iraq war, but could include probes into
the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance, environmental policies
and new prescription-drug program for seniors. Industries, such as oil
companies, could also come under closer scrutiny." ... ""This could be
remembered as a historically unique period in which an administration got
immunity from Congress to engage in errors with impunity," said Charles
Tiefer, a University of Baltimore law professor and a former House counsel."
... "Democrats are expected to bore into the Iraq war, including review
of no-bid contracts for reconstruction, intelligence failures and decisions
to ignore the advice of military commanders about troop levels." (1, 2)
-By Richard B. Schmitt and Richard Simon
-LAtimes
20061108
Noteworthy
- Secret
- US
- Iraq
- Iran
- Religious- Terrorism
- Military
- Intelligence
- History
- "Gates’
CIA Past Could Haunt Him in Confirmation Hearings."
... "President Bush’s pick to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld with former CIA
Director Robert Gates is an odd one, considering it’s almost certain to
revive festering questions about the Bush administration’s handling of
pre-war intelligence on Iraq." ... "In early 1987, his role in the so-called
Iran-Contra affair, a secret White House operation to sell weapons to radical
Islamic Iran in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages — and cash for
CIA-backed rebels in Nicaragua — came under scrutiny." ... "Then, in during
his 1991 nomination hearings to run the CIA, Gates ran into a buzz saw
of testimony from a former agency analyst who said that during the 1980s
Gates had skewered intelligence to fit the convictions of senior Reagan
administration officials that Soviet agents had concocted a plot to assassinate
the pope and were arming and encouraging Marxist revolutionary groups to
carry out terrorist attacks." ... "Both theories turned out to be wrong,
according Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl, who headed a team of CIA analysts
assigned the task of investigating the theory." ... "Senior former CIA
analyst Mel Goodman charged Gates with a number of improprieties, including
“the imposition of intelligence judgments, often over the protests of the
consensus in the Directorate of Intelligence, to slant intelligence . .
. suppression of intelligence that didn’t support the Casey agenda . .
. (and) use of the Directorate of Operations to slant intelligence of the
Directorate of Intelligence.”" -By Jeff Stein-CQ.com
20061103
Secret
- US
- Iraq- Nuclear
- Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- Internet
- Archive
- History
- Hoekstra
- Michigan
- Roberts
- Kansas
- Legislation
- Politics
- "U.S.
Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer."
... "Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public
a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration
did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they
hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers
posed by Saddam Hussein." ... "But in recent weeks, the site has posted
some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed
accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf
war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building
an atom bomb." ... "Last night, the government shut down the Web site after
The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control
officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access
to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content
is appropriate for public viewing.”" ... "Officials of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, fearing that the information could help states like
Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American
ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats who spoke on
condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. One diplomat
said the agency’s technical experts “were shocked” at the public disclosures."
... "The documents, roughly a dozen in number, contain charts, diagrams,
equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that nuclear experts
who have viewed them say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet
and in other public forums. For instance, the papers give detailed information
on how to build nuclear firing circuits and triggering explosives, as well
as the radioactive cores of atom bombs." ... "The director of national
intelligence, John D. Negroponte, had resisted setting up the Web site,
which some intelligence officials felt implicitly raised questions about
the competence and judgment of government analysts. But President Bush
approved the site’s creation after Congressional Republicans proposed legislation
to force the documents’ release." ... "The campaign for the Web site was
led by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative
Peter Hoekstra [Republican] of Michigan. Last November, he and his Senate
counterpart, Pat Roberts [Republican] of Kansas, wrote to Mr. Negroponte,
asking him to post the Iraqi material." (1, 2,
3)
-By William J. Broad with contributions by Scott Shane
-NYTimes
20061102
Noteworthy
- US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- Politics
- History
- "Bush
owes troops an apology, not Kerry: Olbermann: Bush
'appearing to be stupid' about Kerry's joke." ... "A brief reminder, Mr.
Bush: You are not the United States of America." ... "You are merely a
politician whose entire legacy will have been a willingness to make anything
political; to have, in this case, refused to acknowledge that the insult
wasn't about the troops, and that the insult was not even truly about you
either, that the insult, in fact, is you." ... "So now John Kerry has apologized
to the troops; apologized for the Republicans' deliberate distortions."
... "Thus, the president will now begin the apologies he owes our troops,
right?" ... "This president must apologize to the troops for having suggested,
six weeks ago, that the chaos in Iraq, the death and the carnage, the slaughtered
Iraqi civilians and the dead American service personnel, will, to history,
"look like just a comma."" ... "This president must apologize to the troops
because the intelligence he claims led us into Iraq proved to be undeniably
and irredeemably wrong." ... "This president must apologize to the troops
for having laughed about the failure of that intelligence at a banquet
while our troops were in harm's way." ... "This president must apologize
to the troops because the streets of Iraq were not strewn with flowers
and its residents did not greet them as liberators." ... "This president
must apologize to the troops because his administration ran out of "plan"
after barely two months." ... "This president must apologize to the troops
for getting 2,815 of them killed." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By
Keith Olbermann
-MSNBC
20061026
Money
- Consumer
- History
- "Exxon
Mobile posts $10.49B profit." ... "Oil industry behemoth
Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings rose to $10.49
billion, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly
traded U.S. company." ... "The report comes as high crude prices this year
have fueled record profits in the oil industry, triggering an outcry from
consumers who were being asked to pay about $3 a gallon for gasoline in
early August." ... "The largest quarterly profit ever was Exxon Mobil's
$10.71 billion profit in the fourth quarter of 2005." ... "They may beat
that next quarter, said Howard Silverblatt Standard & Poor's Senior
Index Analyst. "Then in all likelihood they will be at that $40 billion
mark for the year." That would put the company on track for the highest
annual profit ever by a U.S. company. Exxon Mobil holds that record with
a 2005 profit of $36.1 billion." -By Steve Quinn
-AP via -DenverPost.com
20061017
Secret
- Military
- Terrorism
- Torture
- Prisons- Legislation
- Religious- Civil
Liberties - History
- Politics
- "Bush
Signs Terror Interrogation Law." ... "President Bush
signed legislation Tuesday authorizing tough interrogation of terror suspects
and smoothing the way for trials before military commissions, calling it
a "vital tool" in the war against terrorism." ... "Bush's plan for treatment
of the terror suspects became law just six weeks after he acknowledged
that the CIA had been secretly interrogating suspected terrorists overseas
and pressed Congress to quickly give authority to try them in military
commissions." ... "A coalition of religious groups staged a protest against
the bill outside the White House, shouting "Bush is the terrorist" and
"Torture is a crime." About 15 of the protesters, standing in a light rain,
refused orders to move. Police arrested them one by one." ... "The law
protects detainees from blatant abuses during questioning - such as rape,
torture and "cruel and inhuman" treatment - but does not require that any
of them be granted legal counsel. Also, it specifically bars detainees
from filing habeas corpus petitions challenging their detentions in federal
courts." ... "Many Democrats opposed the legislation because they said
it eliminated rights of defendants considered fundamental to American values,
such as a person's ability to go to court to protest their detention and
the use of coerced testimony as evidence." ... "The American Civil Liberties
Union said the new law is "one of the worst civil liberties measures ever
enacted in American history."" ... ""The president can now, with the approval
of Congress, indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections
against horrific abuse, put people on trial based on hearsay evidence,
authorize trials that can sentence people to death based on testimony literally
beaten out of witnesses, and slam shut the courthouse door for habeas petitions,"
said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero." ... ""Nothing could be
further from the American values we all hold in our hearts than the Military
Commissions Act," he said." -By Nedra Pickler
-AP
20061015
US
- North
Korea - Nuclear
- Military
- History
- Politics
- "N.
Korean Nuclear Conflict Has Deep Roots: 50 Years
of Threats and Broken Pacts Culminate in Apparent Atomic Test." ... "Democrats
and Republicans have been quick to use North Korea's apparent nuclear test
to benefit their own party in these final weeks of the congressional campaign,
but a review of history shows that both sides have contributed to the current
situation." ... "There is more than 50 years of history to Pyongyang's
attempt to gain a nuclear weapon, triggered in part by threats from Presidents
Harry S. Truman [Democrat] and Dwight D. Eisenhower [Republican] to end
the Korean War." ... "In 1950, when a reporter asked Truman whether he
would use atomic bombs at a time when the war was going badly, the president
said, "That includes every weapon we have."" ... "Three years later, Eisenhower
made a veiled threat, saying he would "remove all restraints in our use
of weapons" if the North Korean government did not negotiate in good faith
an ending to that bloody war." ... "In 1957, the United States placed nuclear-tipped
Matador missiles in South Korea, to be followed in later years, under both
Republican and Democratic administrations, by nuclear artillery, most of
which was placed within miles of the demilitarized zone." ... "It was not
until President [Democrat] Jimmy Carter's administration, in the late 1970s,
that the first steps were taken to remove some of the hundreds of nuclear
weapons that the United States maintained in South Korea, a process that
was not completed until 1991, under the first [Republican] Bush administration."
-By Walter Pincus -WashingtonPost
20061011
Abramoff
- Pombo
- Money
- Lawmakers
- History
- US
- Northern
Mariana Islands - Garment
- Labor
- California
- "AP
Exclusive: Records suggest Abramoff, Pombo lobbying contacts."
... "California [Republican] Rep. Richard Pombo has insisted he was never
lobbied by [Republican lobbyist] Jack Abramoff. Records show the disgraced
lobbyist billed a client for at least two contacts with Pombo a decade
ago." ... "The lobbying records released by the Northern Mariana Islands
show that Abramoff billed once for calls to Pombo, chairman of the House
Resources Committee, and a second time for a discussion with him, while
lobbying in 1996." ... "On more than two dozen other occasions from 1996
through 2001, Abramoff associates called or met with members of Pombo's
staff, including his chief of staff, the records indicate. As the contacts
picked up, Pombo voted Abramoff's way on a bill important to Abramoff's
clients." ... "The Northern Mariana Islands, a chain of 14 islands near
Guam, became a U.S. commonwealth in 1986. Residents have nonvoting citizenship
but the islands are exempt from many federal labor laws." ... "Democrats,
complaining about reported abuses at low-paying garment factories, have
sought to end those exemptions and increase the minimum wage, now $3.05
an hour. The Marianas government hired Abramoff to block such moves." ...
"On Sept. 10, 1996, Abramoff billed for a discussion with Pombo. Two days
later he gave Pombo a $500 donation, the first of what would become $7,500
in campaign contributions. Pombo has since donated the money to charity.
On Nov. 21, 1996, Abramoff reported putting in calls to Pombo and other
lawmakers." -By Erica Werner
-AP via -MercuryNews
20061002
Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- History
- Politics
- Reporting
- Book
- "Records
Show Tenet Briefed Rice on Al Qaeda Threat." ...
"A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then
the director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other
top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda,
a State Department spokesman said Monday." ... "The account by Sean McCormack
came hours after Ms. Rice, the secretary of state, told reporters aboard
her airplane that she did not recall the specific meeting on July 10, 2001,
noting that she had met repeatedly with Mr. Tenet that summer about terrorist
threats. Ms. Rice, the national security adviser at the time, said it was
“incomprehensible” she ignored dire terrorist threats two months before
the Sept. 11 attacks." ... "Mr. McCormack also said records show that the
Sept. 11 commission was informed about the meeting, a fact that former
intelligence officials and members of the commission confirmed on Monday."
... "When details of the meeting emerged last week in a new book by Bob
Woodward of The Washington Post, Bush administration officials questioned
Mr. Woodward’s reporting." ... "Now, after several days, both current and
former Bush administration officials have confirmed parts of Mr. Woodward’s
account." ... "Officials now agree that on July 10, 2001, Mr. Tenet and
his counterterrorism deputy, J. Cofer Black, were so alarmed about an impending
Al Qaeda attack that they demanded an emergency meeting at the White House
with Ms. Rice and her National Security Council staff." ... "According
to two former intelligence officials, Mr. Tenet told those assembled at
the White House about the growing body of intelligence the Central Intelligence
Agency had collected pointing to an impending Al Qaeda attack." -By
Philip Shenon and Mark Mazzetti -NYTimes
Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- History
- Politics
- "Rumsfeld,
Ashcroft received warning of al Qaida attack before 9/11."
... "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John
Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike
on an American target that was given to the White House two months before
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." ... "The State Department's disclosure Monday
that the pair was briefed within a week after then-National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice was told about the threat on July 10, 2001, raised new
questions about what the Bush administration did in response, and about
why so many officials have claimed they never received or don't remember
the warning." ... "One official who helped to prepare the briefing, which
included a PowerPoint presentation, described it as a "10 on a scale of
1 to 10" that "connected the dots" in earlier intelligence reports to present
a stark warning that al-Qaida, which had already killed Americans in Yemen,
Saudi Arabia and East Africa, was poised to strike again." ... "Former
CIA Director George Tenet gave the independent Sept. 11, 2001, commission
the same briefing on Jan. 28, 2004, but the commission made no mention
of the warning in its 428-page final report. According to three former
senior intelligence officials, Tenet testified to commissioner Richard
Ben-Veniste and to Philip Zelikow, the panel's executive director and the
principal author of its report, who's now Rice's top adviser." ... "A new
book by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post alleges that Rice failed to
take the July 2001 warning seriously when it was delivered at a White House
meeting by Tenet, Cofer Black, then the agency's chief of top counterterrorism,
and a third CIA official whose identity remains protected." ... "Rice's
deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, who became national security adviser after she
became secretary of state, and Rice's top counterterrorism aide, Richard
Clarke, also were present." -By Jonathan S. Landay,
Warren P. Stroebel, and John Walcott with contributions by Matt Stearns
and Drew Brown -McClatchyvia
-RealCities
Secret
- Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Politics
- History
- "9/11
Commission failed to disclose 'scary' briefing also given to White House."
... "The independent Sept. 11, 2001, commission was given the same “scary”
briefing about an imminent al Qaida attack on a U.S. target that was presented
to the White House two months before the attacks, but failed to disclose
the warning in its 428-page report." ... "Former CIA Director George Tenet
presented the briefing to commission member Richard Ben Veniste and executive
director Philip Zelikow in secret testimony at CIA headquarters on Jan.
28, 2004, said three former senior agency officials." ... "Tenet raised
the matter himself, displayed slides from a Power Point presentation that
he and other officials had given to then-national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice on July 10, 2001, and offered to testify on the matter in public if
the commission asked him to, they said." ... "Richard Clarke, who was the
National Security Council's top counter-terrorism advisor, confirmed the
former senior intelligence officials’ account. Clarke was present when
Tenet briefed Rice, along with deputy national security adviser Steven
Hadley, CIA counter-terrorism chief Cofer Black and another CIA officer
whose identity remains protected." -By Jonathan S.
Landay -McClatchy
via -RealCities
20061001
Children
- Enforcement
- Politics- Mark
Foley - History
- Florida
- "GOP
Staff Warned Pages About Foley in 2001." ... "A Republican
staff member warned congressional pages five years ago to watch out for
[Florida Republican] Congressman Mark Foley, according to a former page."
... "Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he
and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's
office." ... "Loraditch says that some of the pages who "interacted" with
Foley were hesitant to report his behavior because "members of Congress,
they've got the power." Many of the pages were hoping for careers
in politics and feared Foley might seek retribution." -By
Maddy Sauer and Anna Schecter -ABCNEWS.com
20060929
George
Allen - Language- History
- US
- Virginia
- Indian
- 2008
Election - 2006
Election - Military
- Law
- Israel
- "Guess
Who's Mad At George Allen Now? Confederate Group
Slams Va. Senator For Demeaning Rebel Flag." ... "[Virginia Republican]
Sen. George Allen's use [of] the word "macaca" for a young man of Indian
descent forced him to spend the past six weeks disputing claims that his
past is littered with racist language and a fondness for Confederate symbols."
... "What had been a warm-up race for a 2008 presidential [election] bid
has become the fight of Allen's political life. He had been a strong [2006
election] favorite over Democrat Jim Webb, a decorated combat veteran who
once served as President Reagan's Navy secretary." ... "Stories about how
the Confederate flag he kept in his home and a hangman's noose in his law
office have gained new currency. At a debate, Allen was startled and irritated
by a question about whether his grandfather was Jewish, then confirmed
it a day later." -AP
via -CBSNews
Noteworthy
- US
- Iraq- Political
- Intelligence
- History
- Book
- "Book
Says Bush Ignored Urgent Warning on Iraq." ... "The
White House ignored an urgent warning in September 2003 from a top Iraq
adviser who said that thousands of additional American troops were desperately
needed to quell the insurgency there, according to a new book by Bob Woodward,
the Washington Post reporter and author. The book describes a White House
riven by dysfunction and division over the war." ... "The warning is described
in “State of Denial,” scheduled for publication on Monday by Simon &
Schuster. The book says President Bush’s top advisers were often at odds
among themselves, and sometimes were barely on speaking terms, but shared
a tendency to dismiss as too pessimistic assessments from American commanders
and others about the situation in Iraq." ... "As late as November 2003,
Mr. Bush is quoted as saying of the situation in Iraq: “I don’t want anyone
in the cabinet to say it is an insurgency. I don’t think we are there yet.”"
... "Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is described as disengaged
from the nuts-and-bolts of occupying and reconstructing Iraq — a task that
was initially supposed to be under the direction of the Pentagon — and
so hostile toward Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser,
that President Bush had to tell him to return her phone calls. The American
commander for the Middle East, Gen. John P. Abizaid, is reported to have
told visitors to his headquarters in Qatar in the fall of 2005 that “Rumsfeld
doesn’t have any credibility anymore” to make a public case for the American
strategy for victory in Iraq." ... "Robert D. Blackwill, then the top Iraq
adviser on the National Security Council, is said to have issued his warning
about the need for more troops in a lengthy memorandum sent to Ms. Rice.
The book says Mr. Blackwill’s memorandum concluded that more ground troops,
perhaps as many as 40,000, were desperately needed." ... "It says that
Mr. Blackwill and L. Paul Bremer III, then the top American official in
Iraq, later briefed Ms. Rice and Stephen J. Hadley, her deputy, about the
pressing need for more troops during a secure teleconference from Iraq.
It says the White House did nothing in response." (1, 2)
-By David E. Sanger with contributions by Mark Mazzetti,
David Johnston, and Julie Bosman -NYTimes
20060922
Torture
- Secret
- Noteworthy
- United
States - Government
- International
- Military
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- Prisons
- Human
Rights - War
Crimes - Law- Politics
- Ariz
- SC
- VA
- "The
Abuse Can Continue: Senators won't authorize torture,
but they won't prevent it, either." ... "The bad news is that Mr. Bush,
as he made clear yesterday, intends to continue using the CIA to secretly
detain and abuse certain terrorist suspects. He will do so by issuing his
own interpretation of the Geneva Conventions in an executive order and
by relying on questionable Justice Department opinions that authorize such
practices as exposing prisoners to hypothermia and prolonged sleep deprivation.
Under the compromise agreed to yesterday, Congress would recognize his
authority to take these steps and prevent prisoners from appealing them
to U.S. courts. The bill would also immunize CIA personnel from prosecution
for all but the most serious abuses and protect those who in the past violated
U.S. law against war crimes." ... "In short, it's hard to credit the statement
by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) yesterday that "there's no doubt that the
integrity and letter and spirit of the Geneva Conventions have been preserved."
In effect, the agreement means that U.S. violations of international human
rights law can continue as long as Mr. Bush is president, with Congress's
tacit assent. If they do, America's standing in the world will continue
to suffer, as will the fight against terrorism." ... "In theory, Congress
could override Mr. Bush's regulations governing treatment if it judges
that they are being used to authorize unacceptable practices." ... "But
the senators who have fought to rein in the administration's excesses --
led by Sens. McCain, Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.)
-- failed to break Mr. Bush's commitment to "alternative" methods that
virtually every senior officer of the U.S. military regards as unreliable,
counterproductive and dangerous for Americans who may be captured by hostile
governments." ... "Mr. Bush will go down in history for his embrace of
torture and bear responsibility for the enormous damage that has caused."
-WashingtonPost
20060921
Secret
- Torture
- United
States - World
- Military
- Intelligence
- Terrorism- Prisons
- Human
Rights - Law
- Michael
Hayden - "CIA
Praises Deal; Harsh Techniques Would Continue." ...
"The CIA director, General Michael Hayden, praised the deal reached in
Congress today that, in effect, would permit CIA interrogators to use harsh
techniques critics call torture." ... "President Bush and the CIA have
repeatedly maintained the procedures are not torture and have saved American
lives." ... "Human rights groups maintain the procedures constitute a form
of torture, and the United States military has banned its personnel from
using water boarding [which may be allowed under the current Republcan
congressional deal]." ... "Today's congressional deal, if signed into law,
would allow the CIA to continue the six techniques and to continue to run
secret prisons overseas for select terror suspects." -By
Brian Ross -ABCNEWS.com
20060920
Virginia
- 2006
Election - 2008
Election -US
- Iraq
- Military
- Terrorism
- "Gaffes
Make Allen Vulnerable to Hard-Charging Webb in Va.."
... "Less than a year ago, there was little indication that Virginia Republican
George Allen would face much of a race in his bid for a second Senate term.
With Democrats then struggling to find a credible challenger, Allen was
widely expected to be able to spend a good part of this year in other states
to prospect a possible bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination."
... "But the emergence of a tough-minded Democratic nominee in author and
former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, and some self-inflicted damage on Allen’s
part, have combined to keep Allen close to home — and thrust him into a
contest that looks increasingly competitive. As a result, CQPolitics.com
has changed its rating on the race to Leans
Republican from Republican Favored." ... "Webb, a decorated Marine
Corps veteran of the Vietnam War, served as Navy secretary under President
Ronald Reagan and is the author of several best-selling non-fiction books
and novels, many with military themes. He maintained his Republican Party
allegiances right through 2000, when he favored George W. Bush for president
— and Allen in his successful bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Charles S.
Robb." ... "But Webb turned sharply because of his strong opposition to
Bush’s decision as president to launch the war in Iraq, a conflict that
Webb viewed as unnecessary to defend U.S. national security and a diversion
of personnel and resources away from the pursuit of the terrorists who
actually staged the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States." -By
Greg Giroux -CQPolitics.com
20060918
Canada
- US
- Syria
- Secret
- Torture
- Intelligence
- Religious
- Terrorism
- Politics
- "Canadian
was falsely accused, panel says: Muslim held by U.S.
was sent to Syria for interrogation." ... "Canadian intelligence officials
passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim
Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to
Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday." ... "The
report, released in Ottawa, was the result of a 2 1/2-year inquiry that
represented one of the first public investigations into mistakes made as
part of the United States' "extraordinary rendition" program, which has
secretly spirited suspects to foreign countries for interrogation by often
brutal methods." ... "The inquiry, which focused on the Canadian intelligence
services, found that agents who were under pressure to find terrorists
after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, falsely labeled an Ottawa computer
consultant, Maher Arar, as a dangerous radical. They asked U.S. authorities
to put him and his wife, a university economist, on the al-Qaeda "watchlist,"
without justification, the report said." ... "Arar was also listed as "an
Islamic extremist individual" who was in the Washington area on Sept. 11.
The report concluded that he had no involvement in Islamic extremism and
was on business in San Diego that day, said the head of the inquiry commission,
Ontario Justice Dennis O'Connor." (1, 2)
-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC
20060914
US
- World
- Military
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- Secret- Police
- Prisoner
- Human
Rights - Legislation
- South
Carolina - Virginia
- Arizona-
"Senate
Panel, Rebuffing Bush, Approves Terror Tribunal Measure."
... "A Senate committee, in a bipartisan rebuff to President George W.
Bush, approved military tribunal legislation that would give more legal
protection to suspected terrorists than the administration wants." ...
"Four of the 13 Republicans on the panel joined the 11 Democrats to pass
their version of the measure, rejecting Bush's proposal to bar defendants
from seeing classified evidence prosecutors may want to use in court. Former
Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed the Senate approach, warning that
the Bush administration is risking the safety of U.S. troops and worldwide
opinion by permitting harsh treatment of detainees." ... "Today's Armed
Services Committee vote would let suspected terrorists see evidence used
against them and would bar statements obtained through torture or inhumane
treatment. It also would authorize military judges to fashion declassified
summaries of evidence and to dismiss charges if the prosecutors don't consent
to the disclosures." ... "[South Carolina Republican Lindsey] Graham joined
the panel's chairman, Virginia Republican John Warner, and Arizona Republican
John McCain in resisting Bush's demand to redefine the terms ``cruel, inhumane
and degrading'' in describing treatment barred by Common Article 3 of the
Geneva Conventions." ... "Graham, a former Air Force lawyer, said that
if the interpretation of the Geneva Conventions is changed, ``why wouldn't
every other country do the same thing, have their secret police tell them
to change the treaty obligations?''" -By James Rowley
-Bloomberg
20060913
Afghanistan
- US
- Terrorism
- Politics
- "NATO:
We need more troops in Afghanistan: U.S. envoy says
reinforcements necessary to combat strengthening Taliban." ... "NATO allies
must fulfil their commitment to the future stability of Afghanistan by
dispatching more troops to fight insurgents, Washington's ambassador to
the alliance said on Wednesday." ... "NATO troops have been drawn into
bloody combat with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan - particularly in
the more volatile south - in recent weeks and commanders on the ground
have voiced concerns about troop capacity." ... "The Taliban are now the
most active they have been since being toppled by a U.S.-led coalition
in 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks by the group's al-Qaida allies."
-Reuters via -MSNBC
20060908
Noteworthy
- US
- Iraq
- Military- Terrorism
- Religion
- Osama
bin Laden
- Dick
Cheney - Politics
- "Intelligence
Didn't Back Bush Iraq Claims, Senate Reports Say."
... "Bush administration claims justifying the war against Iraq were based
on fragmented, conflicting, and at times unreliable intelligence, according
to two reports released today by the Senate Intelligence Committee." ...
"Administration statements that Saddam Hussein was allied with Osama bin
Laden and was helping al-Qaeda obtain chemical and biological weapons proved
wrong and misleading and weren't based on solid intelligence in its possession,
the declassified Senate reports said." ... "Contrary to assertions by Vice
President Dick Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials, Hussein
didn't have links to al-Qaeda and the Sept. 11 terrorist plot, the reports
said." ... "``Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qaeda and viewed Islamic
extremists as a threat to his regime,'' one of the reports said. Hussein
refused all requests from al-Qaeda to provide material or operational support,
said the reports." ... "Allegations that Hussein provided chemical and
biological weapons training to al-Qaeda operatives also turned out to be
false, the reports said. The Defense Intelligence Agency said in 2002 that
it was unlikely Iraq gave Bin Laden any useful weapons assistance." ...
"While Bin Laden's al-Qaeda lieutenant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was in Iraq
in 2002, he was traveling under cover and eluded efforts by Hussein to
capture him, the reports said." -By William Roberts
and James Rowley -Bloomberg
TV
- Media
- Business
- Terrorism
- History
- Politics
- "ABC
Gets More Pressure to Toss 9/11 Film." ... "ABC faced
growing pressure Friday about its planned miniseries on the buildup to
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Former Clinton administration officials,
historians and a Democratic petition with nearly 200,000 signatures urged
the network to scrap the five-hour drama." ... "The network said the movie,
scheduled to air commercial-free on Sunday and Monday, is being edited
to deal with concerns that it distorts history. ABC had no response to
the calls to abandon it." ... "A group of historians, including Arthur
Schlesinger Jr. and Princeton University's Sean Wilentz, wrote to ABC parent
Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger, urging him to scrap the series. They said
that permitting inaccuracies to heighten drama is "disingenuous and dangerous.""
... ""A responsible broadcast network should have nothing to do with the
falsification of history, except to expose it," they wrote." ... "Harvey
Keitel, one of the actors in "The Path to 9/11," also said he had questions
about whether some of the material was accurate." ... ""When I received
the script, it said ABC history project," Keitel said in an interview with
CNN Headline News' "Showbiz Tonight." "I took it to be exactly what they
presented to me, history. And that the facts were correct. It turned out
not all the facts were correct, and ABC set out trying to heal that problem.
In some instances it was too late because we had begun."" ... "The controversy
is reminiscent of the one that erupted over a 2003 CBS miniseries about
President Ronald Reagan. In the face of political pressure over that film's
accuracy, CBS canceled it, and it later aired on the Showtime cable network."
-By David Bauder -AP
20060907
Secret
- US
- Foreign
- Military
- Terrorism
- Prisons
- Human
Rights - Law
- War
Crimes Act - Politics
- UN
- Guantanamo
Bay - Cuba-
"Bush
Admits the CIA Runs Secret Prisons: Bush admits CIA
runs secret prisons overseas, says interrogations made terrorists reveal
plots." ... "President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time
that the CIA runs secret prisons overseas and said tough interrogation
forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and
its allies." ... "Bush said 14 suspects _ including the mastermind of the
Sept. 11 attacks and architects of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and
the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania _ had been turned over
to the Defense Department and moved to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, for trial." ... "Earlier this year, an anti-torture panel at
the United Nations recommended the closure of Guantanamo and criticized
alleged U.S. use of secret prisons and suspected delivery of prisoners
to foreign countries for questioning. Some Democrats and human rights groups
argued that the CIA's secret prison system did not allow monitoring for
abuses and they hoped that it would be shut down." ... "The Supreme Court
ruled that prisoner protections spelled out by the Geneva Conventions should
extend to members of al-Qaida. In addition to torture and cruel treatment,
the treaties ban "outrages against personal dignity" and "humiliating and
degrading treatment."" ... "Administration officials said they were concerned
the ruling left U.S. personnel vulnerable to be prosecuted under the War
Crimes Act because the language under the Geneva Conventions was so vague."
-By Deb Riechmann with contributions by Anne Plummer
Flaherty -AP
via -CBSNews
20060906
Pakistan
- Afghanistan
- US
- Military
- Terrorism
- "Pakistan
Reaches Peace Accord With Pro-Taliban Militias: Deal
Arouses Alarm in Afghanistan." ... "The government of Pakistan signed a
peace accord Tuesday with pro-Taliban forces in the volatile tribal areas
bordering Afghanistan, agreeing to withdraw its troops from the region
in return for the fighters' pledge to stop attacks inside Pakistan and
across the border." ... "Under the pact, foreign fighters would have to
leave North Waziristan or live peaceable lives if they remained. The militias
would not set up a "parallel" government administration." ... "Reached
as Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, prepared to visit the Afghan
capital Wednesday, the accord aroused alarm among some analysts in Afghanistan.
They expressed concern that, whatever the militias promise, a Pakistani
army withdrawal might backfire, emboldening the groups to operate more
freely in Pakistan and to infiltrate more aggressively into Afghanistan
to fight U.S. and allied forces there." ... "More than 1,500 people have
been killed in combat and terrorist attacks this year as violence in Afghanistan
swelled to its highest level since 2001, when U.S.-led forces drove the
Taliban from power. Suicide bombings, once unheard of, are now almost daily
occurrences. Schools have been burned across the region and dozens of community
leaders have been assassinated." -By Pamela Constable
-WashingtonPost
20060905
Pakistan
- Afghanistan
- US
- Military
- Terrorism
- Osama
bin Laden
- "Bin
Laden Gets a Pass from Pakistan." ... "Osama bin
Laden, America's most wanted man, will not face capture in Pakistan if
he agrees to lead a "peaceful life," Pakistani officials tell ABC News."
... "The surprising announcement comes as Pakistani army officials announced
they were pulling their troops out of the North Waziristan region as part
of a "peace deal" with the Taliban." ... "If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden
"would not be taken into custody," Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan told
ABC News in a telephone interview, "as long as one is being like a peaceful
citizen."" ... "Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the tribal
areas of Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, but U.S. officials say
his precise location is unknown." ... ""What this means is that the Taliban
and al Qaeda leadership have effectively carved out a sanctuary inside
Pakistan," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, the former White House
counter-terrorism director." -By Brian
Ross and Gretchen Peters -ABCNEWS.com