Britian Slams U.S. over Guantanamo

June 28, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Politics

Britain's top legal officer has slammed as "unacceptable" proposed U.S. military trials of Guantanamo Bay detainees in a speech reviving a rare rift between the closest allies in the global anti-terror war.
Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith's comments, released on Friday ahead of delivery in a speech in Paris, were one of the bluntest statements yet of London's disquiet over the U.S. handling of terror suspects at the U.S. base in Cuba.
"While we must be flexible and be prepared to countenance some limitation of fundamental rights if properly justified and proportionate, there are certain principles on which there can be no compromise," he was to say.
"Fair trial is one of those -- which is the reason we in the UK have been unable to accept that the US military tribunals ... offer sufficient guarantees of a fair trial in accordance with international standards."

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Computer Golfing

June 27, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Photography

Going to do some more golfing this week. I’m taking lessons at a nearby club with a couple of friends...

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Fahrenheit Hawaii

June 23, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Misc

Been watching the news on “Fahrenheit 9/11” lately, anticipating its release in the U.S. I just recently read “Stupid White...

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George Bush’s Big Lie Grows Bigger

June 23, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Politics

George Bush understands that most Americans don't have the time, energy, or interest necessary to keep up with current events. How else can we explain the paradox of his expanding claims of close connections between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and the 9-11 Commission's statement on the same day that there were none?
According to Reuters, Bush sent e-mail today claiming that the "9-11 Commission Staff Report Confirms Administration's Views of al Qaeda/Iraq Ties." This came just hours after the 9-11 commission reported that there was no evidence of a "collaborative relationship." This is the commission Bush never wanted. Under intense political pressure he eventually allowed it to begin its work, but even then hindered its efforts. He even refused to appear before them alone or to have his joint appearance with Cheney recorded or transcribed. But the commission has been thorough in their work, and their conclusions will not easily be challenged.
Reuters offers an explanation of Bush's apparent blindness to the Commission's conclusions: He is "employing a common campaign tactic, shaping public perception through repetition." In other words, he is lying. He is repeating the same lie so many times -- along with Cheney and other members of his staff -- to sow confusion. Eventually, the theory goes, those of us who aren't paying attention will be as likely to believe Bush as the truth.

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Financially ailing companies blame Iraq war

June 23, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Politics

Hundreds of companies blame the Iraq war for poor financial results in 2003, many warning that continued U.S. military involvement there could harm this year's performance.
U.S. soldiers in an armored vehicle watch a gasoline tanker blaze after a roadside attack on the edge of Baghdad Friday.
In recent regulatory filings at the Securities and Exchange Commission, airlines, home builders, broadcasters, mortgage providers, mutual funds and others say the war was directly to blame for lower revenue and profits last year.

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Bush told he is playing into Bin Laden’s hands

June 23, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Politics

A senior US intelligence official is about to publish a bitter condemnation of America's counter-terrorism policy, arguing that the west is losing the war against al-Qaida and that an "avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked" war in Iraq has played into Osama bin Laden's hands.
Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, due out next month, dismisses two of the most frequent boasts of the Bush administration: that Bin Laden and al-Qaida are "on the run" and that the Iraq invasion has made America safer.
In an interview with the Guardian the official, who writes as "Anonymous", described al-Qaida as a much more proficient and focused organisation than it was in 2001, and predicted that it would "inevitably" acquire weapons of mass destruction and try to use them.
He said Bin Laden was probably "comfortable" commanding his organisation from the mountainous tribal lands along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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Powell gave U.N. ‘ambiguous’ data on WMD

June 23, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Politics

The director of the National Security Agency acknowledges in a new book that audiotapes that Secretary of State Colin L. Powell aired before the United Nations last year to justify the need to confront Iraq offered "ambiguous" evidence that Baghdad was hiding banned weapons.
The comments by Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, who was interviewed by writer James Bamford, spotlight doubts among high-level intelligence officials about evidence the Bush administration used to explain why U.N. weapons inspections should cease and the United States should go to war.
At the time, Powell described the three tapes, which he played on Feb. 5, 2003, for the United Nations and international news media, as proof that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction from inspectors. The tapes contained bits of conversations, intercepted by the NSA, among people Powell described as officers of Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard.

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R-rating for Moore’s 9/11 film

June 23, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Film

Michael Moore has lost an appeal to lower the R-rating for Fahrenheit 9/11, his controversial film about George W. Bush's actions before and after the September 11 attacks on the US.
The R-rating prohibits children aged 17 and younger from seeing Fahrenheit 9/11 without an adult.
Distributors Lions Gate Films and IFC Films said yesterday the appeals board of the Motion Picture Association of America had rejected their request to reduce the rating to PG-13.
Moore urged teenagers to see the film anyway. "I encourage all teenagers to come see my movie, by any means necessary. If you need me to sneak you in, let me know," the director said.

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Rumsfeld OK.d harsh treatment of suspects

June 23, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Politics

In an extraordinary disclosure of classified material, the Bush administration released 258 pages of internal documents Tuesday that portray harsh interrogation techniques -- including stripping terror suspects and threatening them with dogs -- as a necessary response to threats from al-Qaida terrorists.
The release of lists of interrogation techniques and other documents previously kept secret even from U.S. allies was a bid by the administration to quiet harsh criticism over its handling of prisoners in the war on terror and the conflict in Iraq.
Though some of the memos argued that Bush had the right to approve torture, the administration said it had never done so, and pointed to techniques it said fell far short of torture. In a separate press briefing Tuesday, the Justice Department backed away from a memo written in 2002 that appeared to justify the use of torture in the war on terror. That memo argued that the president.s wartime powers superseded anti-torture laws and treaties.

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SPAM poetry

June 22, 2004 D. H. McKee
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Misc

Got this interesting message in an email today. Seems if we just stop and read the spam, it will take...

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