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Tuesday, August 17, 2004 |
TheAustralian: "The US today declined to join international monitors in backing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's apparent victory in a recall election and called for a prompt, thorough and transparent probe into opposition claims of massive fraud."
The call for a thorough probe into claims of fraud comes from a regime that came into office by fraud. How criminal and moronic can the Bush clique get?
Chavez won, but Bush does not like democracies. Once more we see the real intent of the Bush regime.
Bush's record in his Holy Homeland is appalling.
NY Times: "State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd 'investigation' that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November."
Arrogance is taking criminal forms nowadays.
Reuters: "Relatives of the U.S. soldier who sounded the alarm about abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison said on Monday the family was living in protective custody because of death threats against them."
What is America coming to?
But there is something rotten in the state of Holland as well. Our own government consists of Bush lackeys. After WW II the Dutch have simply continued to collaborate with tyrants. Anyway, I have a lot of respect for those Americans who keep themselves informed, resist the system and speak out against Bush. With them I would proudly like to say, I am an American!
1:09:16 PM 
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Doug's: "There is a fascinating graph over at Julius Blog that pretty much shows every time Bush's approval ratings drop there is a corresponding terror alert and his ratings spike back up again. Pretty damning evidence I would say."
JuliusBlog: "There are a few things that are quite evident from the chart:
- Whenever his ratings dip, there's a new terror alert.
- Every terror alert is followed by a slight uptick of Bush approval ratings.
- Whenever there are many unfavorable headlines, there's another alert or announcement (distraction effect).
- As we approach the 2004 elections, the number and frequency of terror alerts keeps growing, to the point that they collapse in the graphic. At the same time, Bush ratings are lower than ever."
12:16:50 PM
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The situation in Iraq is worsening each day.
KnightRidder: "U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a renewed assault Sunday on Shiite Muslim militiamen in the southern holy city of Najaf in a risky campaign that was marred from the onset by an outcry from Iraqi politicians and the desertion of dozens of Iraqi troops who refused to fight their countrymen."
Telegraph: ... in Najaf the roles have been abruptly reversed. Now the Iraqi police threaten journalists, and the insurgents welcome them. ... the Iraqi interim government decided yesterday to treat the media as the enemy."
When reservists up to the age of 60 are being activated, you know the system is cracking. "He's 57 years old, afflicted with skin cancer, partially deaf and suffers from high blood pressure. But the U.S. Army still wants Master Sgt. Luis Jaime Treviño. On July 14, the Vietnam and Desert Storm veteran received his third order to report to active duty - mobilized for Operation Iraqi Freedom."
Aljazeera: "About 2000 Iraqi civilian 'volunteers' have formed a human shield around Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf as US-led forces besiege the city."
More on Iraq.
11:12:22 AM
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The Hindu: "When a United States court in 2001 ordered the Saddam Hussein Government to pay $6.7 million to two American citizens, David Daliberti and Bill Barloon, for the torture they suffered at Abu Ghraib prison in 1995, the ruling was hailed by neoconservatives as a landmark one.
Emboldened by this judgment - and by the fact that the U.S. occupation of Iraq in 2003 would make it easier to enforce the ruling of an American court - Abdullah Alkhuzai, who had been tortured by the Saddam regime at Abu Ghraib in 1991, filed a suit under the TVPA against the former Iraqi President and 'Chemical Ali'. In November 2003, notice was sent to the two men, who were in U.S. custody, and on June 14, 2004, a federal court awarded Mr. Alkhuzai $88 million. By then, however, the situation had changed. Abu Ghraib had become synonymous with torture by Americans. So even as Mr. Alkhuzai happily declared, 'I feel the USA got my justice for me', the Bush administration intervened to make sure other Iraqis did not start getting ideas.
Within days of the award, the court was informed of the Justice Department's interest. 'In light of the significant foreign policy interests of the U.S. related to the evolving situation in Iraq, and the legal consequences of various actions of the President ... taken in furtherance of those interests, the U.S. is currently considering its participation in this litigation,' a notice filed by Assistant Attorney General Peter D. Keisler stated.
What makes the absence of a debate all the more surprising is the existence of a voluminous paper trail of official memos that indicates the connivance of the Bush administration in devising legal arguments to justify the torture of prisoners captured in its so-called war on terrorism. The memos, generated by the U.S. Justice Department and the Pentagon between January 2002 and April 2003, suggest systematic attempts were made to push the envelope on 'aggressive interrogation' of captives.
It is astonishing that despite the existence of such documents - and only censored versions of these memos have been released - there is no clamour within the U.S. to bring charges against Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld for the commission of war crimes by their subordinates.
Louise Arbour, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), had no such documentary evidence when she indicted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 1999 on four counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws of war."
10:33:10 AM
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