Friday, December 16, 2005

A THREAT FOR WHOM? CommonDreams: "The US military has kept a database of unverified reports on US civilians who were deemed possible threats to national security interests, US forces or military installations, a defense spokesman said." DetroitFreePress: "The House voted Wednesday to renew a modified USA Patriot Act to combat terrorism and sent the bill to the Senate, where opponents pledged a last-ditch fight against provisions they said would curtail individual liberties." Spying on citizens is a breach of individual liberty. Strangely enough the investigations often stop where real terror is supposed to be involved. Actually it might well be that people arrested on terrorism charges are not terrorists at all. Curtailing civil liberties, stifling opposition, may be the ultimate end of the terror laws. Independent: "Suspected of plotting terror, a group of men have been held for four years but never charged. Now, in their first testimonies, they reveal the authorities have not even questioned them since their arrests." 1:29:58 PM

BUSH DEFEAT ON TORTURE ScienceDaily: "The U.S. Senate is on its way to requiring the Bush administration to reveal the details about where the CIA operates secret prisons and who is in them." SFGate: "Under intense bipartisan congressional pressure, President Bush reversed course Thursday and reluctantly backed Sen. John McCain's call for a law banning cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners in American custody. For Bush, it was a stinging defeat, considering that his party controls both houses of Congress and both chambers had defied his threatened veto to resoundingly support McCain's measure." 1:18:31 PM

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