Thursday, June 22, 2006

THE QUAGMIRE WIDENS After the capture of the al-Qaeda 'leader' the violence only seems to have increased. Third Saddam lawyer killed: "One of Saddam Hussein's lawyers was killed yesterday after he was abducted in Baghdad by men wearing police uniforms, court officials said." ABC: "Iraqi police have accused the US military of killing 15 farm workers during a raid near Baquba, north of Baghdad." Air Torture protests against the transfer of any person to any country where they are likely to face torture. The situation in Afghanistan is also deteriorating. BBC: "Three Afghan policemen have been killed after US-led coalition troops shot at their vehicle by mistake in eastern Kunar province, the US military says." Independent: "For almost five decades, White House reporter Helen Thomas has been covering America's leaders with a healthy dose of scepticism and an endless string of pointed questions. Along the way she has ruffled presidential feathers and, since becoming a columnist in 2003, she has made clear her views on some of those incumbents - including George W Bush who she has described as the 'worst president in all of American history'. Now, 85-year-old Thomas has focused attention on her fellow reporters, accusing them of failing in their duties in the run-up to the Iraq war. 'I ask myself every day why the media have become so complacent, complicit and gullible,' she writes in Watchdogs of Democracy?, a book published this week. 'It all comes down to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that led to fear among reporters of being considered 'unpatriotic' or 'unAmerican'.'" 12:22:38 PM

SPYING ON THE INTERNET Salon: "In a pivotal network operations center in metropolitan St. Louis, AT&T has maintained a secret, highly secured room since 2002 where government work is being conducted, according to two former AT&T workers once employed at the center. In interviews with Salon, the former AT&T workers said that only government officials or AT&T employees with top-secret security clearance are admitted to the room, located inside AT&T's facility in Bridgeton. The room's tight security includes a biometric 'mantrap' or highly sophisticated double door, secured with retinal and fingerprint scanners. The former workers say company supervisors told them that employees working inside the room were monitoring network traffic and that the room was being used by a government agency." 12:05:09 PM

NON-PROFIT HEALTH CARE BETTER CommonDreams: "For-profit nursing homes and hospitals on average provide an inferior quality of care compared with their nonprofit peers, according to an extensive review of studies published on Tuesday." 12:00:49 PM

THE EMPEROR ABROAD While Bush was defacing American flags in Vienna, Austria was letting Bush know he was not welcome. The school youth were demonstrating. Phone lines were tapped. Lots of money and effort were spent on protecting a war criminal. Update from The Aardvark Speaks: "Not just the school youth were protesting. They were, in the morning of 21 June. However, in the afternoon, some 15,000-20,000 people of all ages were voicing their protests against Bush's policies. See here." 11:53:32 AM

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