Bit of a rush job, this. Paying work calls me abroad, presuming I can actually get to Dover first… Pics – and a proper proofing – to come later.

1989 is a landmark year in modern history. Some say the media ‘milked’ the Berlin Wall anniversary, others that there was too much triumphalism; elsewhere professors ponder whether the impact of these practical and ideological shifts on political philosophy should have been much stronger given the scale of the unprecedented events.

Gil Scott-Heron said: “The revolution will not be televised”. In Germany, it was not only televised, it was commoditised as well. You can buy the book, the t-shirt and the DVD. There are audioguide walks and prison tours – and very worthwhile they are too. Political slogans have become product straplines as a country unified in capitalism celebrates the events that brought them together – all the time cementing the official story and the official timeline.

This consensus is only possible in Germany because of the detailed records, and a willingness to show them. The GDR’s Stasi were not the first regime to retrospectively damn themselves because of their thoroughness and their love of bureaucracy.

A visit to any museum of the Sword and the Shield of the Party, as they proudly called themselves, includes examples of countless documents where their grim work is laid out at depressing length. Scandals and shamings are assured for decades to come as the mountain of information continues to be periodically processed by archivists and curators; digging up political hang grenades for some, wrecking friendships for others.

In sharp contrast to these painful public exhumations, what Germans call Durcharbeiten or ‘working through’ the past, the much more violent events of December 1989 in Romania are still shrouded in mystery. Today is the anniversary of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s last speech in Bucharest; an ill-judged gathering of `the people´ in the capital that – instead of counterbalancing nascent rebellion in westerly Timisoara – added its own weight to the rising tide of dissent till it very suddenly became an unstoppable tsunami.

Mirroring the farcical press conference in East Germany that had precipitated the unexpected mobbing of the border that very 9th November, Ceauşescu and his feared Securitate staff panicked when crowd noise was mistaken for booing. The media was again a crucial factor; the rally was being broadcast live and the nation thought the Communist Central Party Committee building was being stormed. Events took on a life of their own, and four days later, on 25^th December, Ceauşescu and his wife were executed – again live on TV – after a rushed show trial.

But while Germans make a point of celebrating what they call the Peaceful Revolution, Romania’s was anything but. In the small museum in Timisoara, the city near the Hungarian and Serbian borders that is known as the seat of the revolution, the curator walks with a pronounced limp. “I was shot by the Securitate,” he will tell you. He was one of many.

One of my strongest memories of 1989 is not of oddly-dressed ‘Ossis’ cheering at the Brandeburg Gate – but of frightened Romanian civilians hiding behind tense soldiers with Kalashnikovs, as they returned fire from the cover of armoured cars or doorways. No velvet smoothed the transition here, like in Czechoslovakia.

For days there were running battles, between the authorities who had apparently deposed Ceauşescu and ‘terrorists’ who were still loyal to him and were attempting to destabilise the country. Confused battles were fought in busy streets or on dark airport aprons (featured in docudrama “The Paper Will be Blue” – Hîrtia va fi albastrã). But who were the revolutionaries really, and who were these terrorists in this fog of Christmas war?

Articles like this eyewitness account, while gripping, raise as many questions as they answer. This one in particular paints a clear picture of the pre-revolution austerity that people were so tired of, and the confusion that surrounded the Timisoara uprising and its consequences. But at the core of these pieces is still a huge unanswered question: who was running the show?

“There are people that know, but they are too scared to say,” I was told in Timisoara this year. At the time, it seemed clear cut: loyalists versus ‘the people’ and an army that mostly went over to them. But now there are a number of theories. The first is that it was indeed what it looked like: a people’s revolution, albeit a messy one, and one that was eventually co-opted by the state.

Second, and highly plausible, is the idea that is was an internal coup; the Securitate saw what was happening across Eastern Europe and made the Nomenklatura’s figurehead a sacrificial lamb.

Other theories credit external forces with the demise of the hardline communist dictator. Some name the CIA, others say it was none other than Gorbachev’s KGB that dethroned the man in the big black hat. Earlier this year I found myself standing in the Timisoara pharmacy where, in 1989, bandages were handed out to the injured as the authorities clamped down on supporters of the ethnic Hungarian priest Lazlo Tokes.

This was the event, with its historical overtones, that precipitated the uprising. The pharmacy owner told me an interesting story. He had a holiday home outside Timisoara which he visited in the months before the revolution. On these trips, he he had seen many Russians crossing the border by car.

Each vehicle would contain a few men and a woman – all relatively young. He had not seen such a thing, he told me, since WW2 – when an influx of German ‘tourists’ had signified subtle but powerful external political forces at work in that small country.

Outside the public buildings of Timisoara, just like the building where Ceauşescu gave his last speech in Bucharest, the EU flag now flies. Romania is a member of NATO; it has moved on. But this is still a country where people tell you that in hospital you have to bribe the nurse every the sheets are changed; an operation might involve hundreds of Euros paid to each link in the chain.

The political elite is dismissed as a bunch of money-hungry weathercocks who changed their allegiance overnight from communism to capitalism to keep their noses in the same rebranded trough. You will be told that ‘they‘ are still in power. Abroad, allegations of complicity in extraordinary rendition and shady CIA prisons surface in credible publications like the NY Times.

In this August article it’s alleged that several identical prisons were built, including one in Bucharest. The uniformity would serve to confuse and disorientate prisoners. This was a classic Stasi tactic. Germany – to public knowledge – said goodbye to this kind of ‘operational psychology’ in 1989, closing prisons like Berlin’s Hohenschonhausen as it slammed the door on Communism.

It is telling that, as some lament the ‘hijacking’ of Romania’s revolution, we are still not sure what went on 20 years ago this Christmas. As records decay, memories fade and it becomes ever less politic to dig up this dirt – we may never find out.

See also this excellent FT article on Who won the Romanian revolution?

By Daphne Eviatar

If you want my honest opinion regarding extraordinary rendition, I think I would prefer an extraordinary one than just the norm! Wouldn’t you?

This is an extract from my latest book “Thoughts from a Good Looking Cat!”

Have I wished all of my lovely cuddly readers of my book, blog and my ‘www‘- wickedly, wonderful website a very Happy Christmas and more money in your pockets in the New Year? I hope so, I forget things sometimes. But I rarely forget to mention that you can still get my book at Amazon.com in time for Christmas and you really should you know, it would make me very happy and of course reading it will make you sublimely happy I promise. (Insert winning smile here).

Technorati Tags:
Buy My Book, Cat, Cat’s Diary, Cats, Christmas, Christmas Presents, Getting Out Excerpts From A Cat’s Diary, Good Looking Cat, extraordinary rendition

Obama Protecting Bush’s “Testicle Crusher” Attorney

San Francisco Chronicle
December 8, 2009

Read Full Article Here

(source, click on the image to enlarge)

More on rendition, arbitrary arrest and habeas corpus. More human rights maps here.

.
A group made by deported veterans and supporters to network, inform, and advocate for all members of all branches of the U.S. Military who serve or have served our nation who face deportation or have been deported by our government.

1. To advocate for the amendment of the Immigration and Nationality Act to include the following:
“The following shall be nationals*, but not citizens of the United States: (1) A person who, by conscription or enlistment, entered any branch of the United States armed forces. This shall be retroactive to servicepersons previously removed from the United States.”

2. Repatriation “Welcome them home”

3. Educational outreach programs to the American People and veterans organizations nationally

*The INA provides that a noncitizen national is “a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States.” 8 U.S.C. §1101 (a)(22)

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

Federal law requires everyone who enlists or re-enlists in the Armed Forces of the United States to take the enlistment oath. The oath of enlistment into the United States Armed Forces is administered by any commissioned officer to any person enlisting or re-enlisting for a term of service into any branch of the military. The officer asks the person, or persons, to raise their right hand and repeat the oath after him. The oath is traditionally performed in front of the United States Flag and other flags, such as the state flag, military branch flag, and unit guidon may be present.

In the Armed Forces EXCEPT the National Guard (Army or Air)

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
In the National Guard (Army or Air)

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of (STATE NAME) against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of (STATE NAME) and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to law and regulations. So help me God.

History of the Oath of Enlistment
During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress established different oaths for the enlisted men of the Continental Army.
The first oath, voted on 14 June 1775 as part of the act creating the Continental Army, read:
I _____ have, this day, voluntarily enlisted myself, as a soldier, in the American continental army, for one year, unless sooner discharged: And I do bind myself to conform, in all instances, to such rules and regulations, as are, or shall be, established for the government of the said Army.

The original wording was effectively replaced by Section 3, Article 1, of the Articles of War approved by Congress on 20 September 1776, which specified that the oath of enlistment read:
I _____ swear (or affirm as the case may be) to be trued to the United States of America, and to serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies opposers whatsoever; and to observe and obey the orders of the Continental Congress, and the orders of the Generals and officers set over me by them.

The first oath under the Constitution was approved by Act of Congress 29 September 1789 (Sec. 3, Ch. 25, 1st Congress). It applied to all commissioned officers, noncommissioned officers and privates in the service of the United States. It came in two parts, the first of which read: “I, A.B., do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will support the constitution of the United States.” The second part read: “I, A.B., do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) to bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and to serve them honestly and faithfully, against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever, and to observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States of America, and the orders of the officers appointed over me.” The next section of that chapter specified that “the said troops shall be governed by the rules and articles of war, which have been established by the United States in Congress assembled, or by such rules and articles of war as may hereafter by law be established.”
The 1789 enlistment oath was changed in 1960 by amendment to Title 10, with the amendment (and current wording) becoming effective in 1962.

These veterans referred to are Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs). They entered the country lawfully, most if not all of their family members are US citizens or green card holders (LPRs), English is their dominant language and they enlisted in the US military.

The following link email adress is user friendly,
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Please contact your senator by writing a letter and get your friends involved to stop this injustice…

300 of these honorably discharged Veterans, that fought valiantly to save the lives if yourself and your families are being ILLEGALLY DETAINED. I hope your next questions are; “By Whom? Why haven’t we heard of this heinous act before now? Why hadn’t the US Government sought their release immediately considering they are Patriots of incredible valor? Why?”, the answer is they are being ILLEGALLY DETAINED by the US Government. The Department of Homeland Security and the INS. Sound like a Science Fiction show or that perhaps the Black Helicoptors are swooping down to get us? If you’ve ever read my Blog years prior this is what you would have thought then that is until in 2008 story upon article upon films told my stories in periodicals like the NYT, WaPo, NBC, ABC, CBS and of course Olbermann all along the timelines I followed. Crazy, lunatic, Psycho, Paranoid these were what I was called but then you all found out about Torture, the Illegal Invasion of the Sovereign Nation of Iraq, the No Fly lists, Blackwater aka Xi pronounced ’she’ run by the Sociopath Eric Prince whom had his employees murder Iraqi civilians, rape the Civilian Iraqi girls.

Jan Ruhman and other veteran advocates met with Los Amigos out of Anaheim on October 14 2009, In the wonderful Jagerhaus Restaurant, 2525 E. Ball Road, Anaheim (just west of the 57 Freeway). There was alot of support as well as suggestions, ideas, and contacts that can support our cause..they are also trying to help out another veteran currently in Detention out in Santa Ana. as well as trying to meet with congresswomen Loretta Sanchez
.
Rohan Coombs, Persian Gulf War Veteran faces deportation on Thursday October, 29th 2009 in El Centro, Ca…. we are trying to get some media attention on his court date if interested .. please contact me or Robyn Sword ….Robyn Sword raw92775@yahoo….com 714-454-5107 10251 Fern #359 Stanton Ca 90680 robynswordphotography@myspace.com robyn sword on facebook or anyone in the Banished Veterans group…

Junie Davis and other marines visit Rohan Coombs in El Centro… put money in his books…needless to say he was very uplifted…Semper Fi NOV 2009

Robyn Sword and Loui Alvarez met with The Rudy Escalante Chapter of American G.I. Forum(a Latino GI group) on Wednesday October 29th 2009 at 2323 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA at 6 PM.

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD RESOLUTION NOV 2009
Resolution on amending the United States Code to clearly state that US military servicemembers are noncitizen nationals and petition the Department of Homeland Security to stay their removal from the United States of America;

1.      Whereas United States Servicemembers are being and have been deported after serving in the military from the United States;

2.      Whereas the current United States Code provides: of the United States” means:
(A) a citizen of the United States, or
(B) a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent
allegiance to the United States.                                    8 U.S.C. 1101(a) (22)

3.      Whereas Federal law requires everyone who enlists or re-enlists in the Armed Forces of the United States to take the enlistment oath. This oath is a permanent oath of allegiance to the United States of America.  The oath is traditionally performed in front of the United States Flag and other flags, such as the state flag, military branch flag and states:
“I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

4.      Whereas The Oath of Enlistment is quite similar to the Oath of Citizenship which is also a permanent oath of allegiance to the United States of America and states:
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”

5.      Whereas US Military Veterans are currently being deported or have been deported have a long history in the United States:
a.       They are legal permanent residents “Green Card Veterans” prior to entering the
military;
b.      They have served in all branches of the military for years;
c.       They have served in Vietnam, Grenada, Kosovo, Somalia, Persian Gulf, Iraq,
Afghanistan;
d.      They have lived from16 – 48 years legally in the United States;
e.       Their Parents, Spouses, Children, Siblings, Partners are United States Citizens and
Legal Permanent Residents.
f.        They are Business Owners;
g.       They are recipients of the GI Bill

6.      Whereas they are subject to removal or have been removed due to criminal convictions;

7.      Whereas the U.S. has a duty to protect those who protected it, regardless of their personal character. The United States now, and historically, has treated aliens admitted for an indefinite period, whether as lawful permanent residents, refugees, or asylees, as other countries would treat noncitizen “nationals” or subjects.”  It requires these individuals to submit to the draft, to have an allegiance of political loyalty to the United States subjecting them to the death penalty for betraying that allegiance, and itself treats the individuals when in uniform as American nationals for a variety of purposes, including American jurisdiction in its Status-of-Forces Agreements.

8.      Whereas the removal of veterans, particularly those who served during times of hostility, present a number of problems that the removal of other aliens do not:
(1)     There is a moral question as to whether the character flaws and, in some instances, the commission of a crime, that would lead to denial of citizenship, are themselves the result of the psychological stress of service in war;
(2)     There is the possible loss of native citizenship rendering the individual stateless;
(3)     There is the possibility of criminal charges awaiting the alien in their native land for his service in the war; and
(4)     There is possible exposure to the jurisdiction of the ICC (even though the US doesn’t partake) or the courts of their native lands for alleged war crimes committed while in an American uniform.

Therefore be it resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls upon the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to amend the United States Code to clearly state
“The following shall be nationals*, but not citizens of the United States: (1) A person who, by conscription or enlistment, entered any branch of the United States armed forces. This shall be retroactive to service persons previously removed from the United States.”

Be it further resolved National Lawyers Guild calls upon the Department of Homeland Security to stay their removal from the United States of America;

Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild will establish an NLG Banished Veterans Committee open to all members to coordinate action by the NLG in support of legislation to clearly state that US military servicemembers are noncitizen nationals and petition the Department of Homeland Security to stay their removal from the United States of America, to work with national and grassroots impeachment organizations, and to provide legal assistance for those efforts to strengthen the national campaign; and

Be it further resolved that the NLG Banished Veterans Committee will help organize and coordinate events at the local, state, and national level to build public participation in the campaign to educate the public, to push for enactment of legislation and a stay of removal for these veterans without further delay; and

Be it further resolved that the NLG Banished Veterans Committee will coordinate and assist all willing NLG members in contacting their respective members of Congress to urge support of the legislation to ask their respective member of Congress to support upcoming legislation, (bill numbers to be announced) and request the Department of Homeland Security to stay the removal of the US military veterans; and

Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild calls on all other state and national bar
associations, state and local government bodies, community organizations, labor unions to adopt similar resolutions and to use all their resources to build the campaign to clearly state that US military servicemembers are noncitizen nationals and petition the Department of Homeland Security to stay their removal from the United States of America; and

Be it further resolved that the National Lawyers Guild will forward a copy of this resolution to
the Speaker and the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, to Representative John Conyers,
Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to Representative Bob Filner, Chair of the House Veteran Affairs Committee, to the various state and federal bar associations, to other peace and justice organizations, other military organizations, and to the news media.

Implementation: By the NLG Banished Veterans Committee established by this resolution, by the National Immigration Project, by the Military Law Task Force, by the San Diego NLG Chapter and by interested local chapters.

Submitted by: Heather M. Boxeth,
THE FOLLOWING LINKS HAVE VIDEOS,INTERVIEWS BLOGGS,INFO,STORIES ON VETERANS THAT HAVE BEEN ALREADY DEPORTED OR IN DETENTION CENTERS.
VIDEO ON US ARMY ORLANDO J. CASTANEDA
http://wizbangblue.com/2007/08/03/illegal-immigrant-my-ass.php
VIDEO ON ARMY VET TO BE DEPORTED
http://shadmia.com/2007/08/06/army-vet-to-be-deported/
ORLANDO J. CASTANEDA
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=947_1186022122
JAN A.RUHMAN ON VETS BEING DEPORTED
http://vetspeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/veterans-caught-up-in-ice-immigration.html
US ARMY VETERAN AND CITIZEN SPENDS 9MONTHS IN DETENTION
http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/news/article.203271-US_Citizen_and_Army_Veteran_Spends_Nine_Months_in_Detention
AMERICAN COMBAT VETERANS FACING DEPORTATION BY JAN A. RUHMAN
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august032009/vets_deported_8-3-09.php
WARREN JOSEPH PERSIAN GULF WAR VETERAN 1991 FACING DEPORTATION
http://standing-firm.com/2007/05/23/help-set-the-ny-times-straight-on-immigrant-veterans/
RALPH HESSELBACK VIETNAM COMBAT VETERAN & RAFAEL RAMIREZ FACING DEPORTATION
http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2472/Immigration-Illegal-Aliens-are-More-Blessing-than-Burden-STATEMENT-SENATOR-PATRICK-LEAHY-RANKING-MEMBER-SENATE-JUDICIARYCOMMITTEE-IMMIGRATION-SUBCOMMITTEEHEARING-ON-IMMIGRANT-CONTRIBUTIONSTO-U-S-ARMED-FORCES-MAY-26-1999.html
WARREN JOSEPH PERSIAN GULF WAR COMBAT VETERAN FACING DEPORTATION
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/23/nyregion/23vet.html?_r=1
ROHAN COOMBS PERSIAN GULF WAR COMBAT VETERAN MARINE & FERNANDO CERVANTES US ARMY VIETNAM ERA FACING DEPORTATION
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/12/1n12deport211228-few-options-veterans-who-await-de/
ORLANDO J. CASTANEDA & MARINE CORPORAL PHILLIPE LOUIS JEAN  FACING DEPORTATION
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1754794/iraq_war_veterans_face_deportation.html
VIDEO ON DEPORTED US MILITARY VETERANS FERNANDO CERVANTES
/watch?v=r_6a6xtSo6I
VIDEO PERSIAN GULF WAR VETERAN FACING DEPORTATION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU5BAJ80Tjk
US VETERANS FACING DEPORTATION
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2009/07/25/local_news/news03.txt
SPECIAL REPORT VARIOUS STORIES ON VETERANS FACING DEPORTATION
http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8055
MILITARY JAG ON VETERANS BEING DEPORTED EXCELLENT ARTICLE
http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8062
JAN A. RUHMAN, SPEAKING ON COMBAT VETERANS FACING DEPORTATION
http://vetspeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/veterans-ins-yet-more-lies.html
LEE GREENWOOD ”GOD BLESS THE USA”
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=53955729
GREEN RAMP DISASTER NORTH CAROLINA EVEN DURING PEACE TIME AND DAY TO DAY TRAINING SOLDIERS LOOSE THEIR LIVES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Ramp_disaster
ARMY EXTENDS IMMIGRANT RECRUITING
http://www.boxethlaw.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73:army-extends-immigrant-recruiting&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=76
USER FRIENDLY SITE TO CONTACT YOUR SENATOR

As Citizens of these United States we must do our duty and act as Patriots ourselves since our Veterans are being ILLEGALLY DETAINED BY OUR OWN I REITERATE OUR OWN GOVERNMENT and by turning our heads as if not wanting to view the aftermath of a horrific and deadly car crash, by remaining silent all the while knowing, or erasing all information you’ve been provided you then become COMPLICIT and as such you’re complicit in this egregious crime committed by our own government. If by not doing a thing you are then criminally responsible as if by your hand these illegal internments were done by your own hand but if after hearing such implausible horrendous, what amounts to kidnap and illegal internment of our Patriotic Vets you are still able to put your head on your pillow and sleep the sleep of babes then so be it. I appreciate that you’ve even taken your valuable time and perused this article I thank you. If you’d care to sign this petition please do and call your Reps. and Senators, write the Editor of your local paper and if you own a Blog they’d appreciate it if you’d make their plight visible.

Title: ________
First Name: ________
Last Name: ________
Address 1: __________
Address 2: ___________
City: ___________
State: ____
Zip Code: _______
email: ____________

The CIA relied on intelligence based on torture in prisons in Uzbekistan, a place where widespread torture practices include raping suspects with broken bottles and boiling them alive, says a former British ambassador to the central Asian country.

Craig Murray, until 2004 the UK’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, said the CIA not only relied on confessions gleaned through extreme torture, it sent terror war suspects to Uzbekistan as part of its extraordinary rendition program.

“I’m talking of people being raped with broken bottles,” he said at a lecture late last month. “I’m talking of people having their children tortured in front of them until they sign a confession. I’m talking of people being boiled alive. And the intelligence from these torture sessions was being received by the CIA, and was being passed on.”

Now, I know the critics see George W Bush and his  sado-conservatives  as a hypocritical bunch of strict disciplinarians with an unhealthy obsession with anal sex – and this has earned him a reputation as an unfeeling martinet.

But he was doing these rogues a favour.

At first, the prisoners hate and fear the torture, but gradually they come to realize that George W is turning them into real men, capable of learning skills that will help them survive a cruel and unfair world.

A little broken bottle anal rape never hurt anyone, and it straightened me out quick smart when I was a young fella – and I didn’t turn out too bad.

Yours, while crying a silent tear for the stolen innocence of a sad past

Righteous

p.s. Hey-eee, come down here boy to deee Mahoo Bar. I buy you drinky drink, yes? I marry you and your brother? I have you baby? We drink to this boy, yes. Mahooooo! I feel goooood tonight………..nope, broken bottle anal rape never effected me at all.

www.morningstaronline.co.uk/

Iraq Veterans Against War - Winter Soldier

"We Don't Torture", Sociopath in Chief quote.

Young Teen Flees from a Car Bombing. THAT OR THIS DOES IT??

AT LAST>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Then Senator Barack Obama really got our grassroots asses moving, huh? Never donated to a Politico in my 53 fucked up years. I work , I aid whom I, once again foolishly, feel is the best candidate but oops there I goddamn go again. S’pose I wasn’t the only considering he is our 44th.

Close Guantanamo

Withdraw from Iraq

Do something about Afghan-Paki-Stan

Nada

What count did you hear? Do not even say “SURGE” because I’ll bite your head off! It is called an escalation in Troops, got it? Is it 40K?

We illegally invade a sovereign nation absent a Declaration of war from Congress, violating Article.I.section.8., clauses 10 -16 ;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

Believe me now? That’s copy and pasted from our Constitution. Congress not the GD Executive Branch run amok as the sociopath in Chief did for almost a decade. I expected more from a bit too far right of Center OBAMA. Why did I? Figure it out let me know.

Now we are still involved, digging a deeper hole in Afghan-Paki-Stan, with a Sectarian/Civil Conflict run by the relative of a corrupt President, Karzai, graft amok, al about “The Poppy”. Heroin. Money money money money….Taliban aren’t going anywhere, al Qaeda are in Pakistan and Europe as well as the good ol’ US of A.

Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Sons and Daughters get to look forward to MURDERED, MAIMED, PTSD AWRY LACKING LIFELONG AND PROFESSIONAL CARE, Drug addicted, homeless, suicidal Vets. ARE YOU GOING TO REACH YOUR HAND OUT? I think not. You put your damn stupid magnetic yellow ribbon, “SUPPORT THE TROOPS” shit on your mini-vans. Does it ease your guilt ridden, GOP, Tancredo, Issa, King, Boehner, Kantor, Addison Graves “JOE YOU LIE” Wilson’s real name, conscience? I hope it doesn’t, you fake ne’er do well, never fought a day in your easy street life just got daddy or Mummy to arrange deferments, lazy, ersatz play toy soldier boy.

President Obama you shame us. You lied to us. You looked in our faces and you lied. You broke my heart Obama, I trusted you. Please prove me wrong.

The Video is entitled “YES” by CasyJPorter all cred due him for taking a helluva lot of chances getting the vid and our Brothers and Sisters for taking part in an Illegal Action so all y’all GOP ass holes can say “I TOLD YOU THOSE THERE ISLAMIC JIHADISTS ARE A KNOCKIN ON OUR DOOR” YOU LOUSY ROTTEN MURDERERS!!!!

http://www.ivaw.org

http://veteransforpeace.org

MPs rowed over scenes in Modern Warfare 2 in which civilians were killed.

Video games depicting war have come under fire for flouting laws governing armed conflicts.

Human rights groups played various games to see if any broke humanitarian laws that govern what is a war crime.

The study condemned the games for violating laws by letting players kill civilians, torture captives and wantonly destroy homes and buildings.

It said game makers should work harder to remind players about the real world limits on their actions.

War without limits

The study was carried out by two Swiss human rights organisations – Trial and Pro Juventute. Staff played the games in the presence of lawyers skilled in the interpretation of humanitarian laws.

Twenty games were scrutinised to see if the conflicts they portrayed and what players can do in the virtual theatres of war were subject to the same limits as in the real world.

“The practically complete absence of rules or sanctions is… astonishing,” said the study.

Army of Two, Call of Duty 5, Far Cry 2 and Conflict Desert Storm were among the games examined.

those who violate international humanitarian law end up as war criminals, not as winners Trial/ Pro Juventute

The games were analysed to see “whether certain scenes and acts committed by players would constitute violations of international law if they were real, rather than virtual”.

The group chose games, rather than films, because of their interactivity.

“Thus,” said the report, “the line between the virtual and real experience becomes blurred and the game becomes a simulation of real life situations on the battlefield.”

The testers looked for violations of the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols which cover war should be waged.

In particular, the testers looked for how combatants who surrendered were treated, what happened to citizens caught up in war zones and whether damage to buildings was proportionate.

Some games did punish the killing of civilians and reward strategies that tried to limit the damage the conflict, said the study.

However, it said, many others allowed “protected objects” such as churches and mosques to be attacked; some depicted interrogations that involved torture or degradation and a few permitted summary executions.

The authors acknowledged that the project was hard because it was not clear from many of the games the scale of the conflict being depicted. This made it hard to definitively determine which humanitarian laws should be enforced.

It also said that the games were so complex that it was hard to be confident that its testers had seen all possible violations or, in games in which they found none, that no violations were possible.

GAMES TESTED 24, The Game Army of Two Battlefield Bad Company Brothers in Arms – Hell’s Highway Call of Duty 4 Call of Duty 5 Close Combat: First to Fight Conflict Desert Storm Far Cry 2 World in Conflict Frontlines: Fuel of War Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Hour of Victory Medal of Honour Airborne Metal Gear Solid Soldier of Fortune Tom Clancy Rainbow 6 Vegas Tom Clancy Splinter Cell Double Agent True Crime Streets of LA

It noted that, even though most players would never become real world combatants, the games could influence what people believe war is like and how soldiers conduct themselves in the real world.

It said games were sending an “erroneous” message that conflicts were waged without limits or that anything was acceptable in counter-terrorism operations.

“This is especially problematic in view of today’s reality,” said the study.

In particular, it said, few games it studied reflected the fact that those who “violate international humanitarian law end up as war criminals, not as winners”.

The authors said they did not wish to make games less violent, instead, they wrote: “[We] call upon game producers to consequently and creatively incorporate rules of international humanitarian law and human rights into their games.”

John Walker, one of the writers on the Rock, Paper, Shotgun games blog, said: “Games really are treated in a peculiar way.”

He doubted that anyone would campaign for books to follow humanitarian laws or for James Bond to be denounced for machine gunning his way through a super villain’s underground complex.

He said the authors did not understand that gamers can distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Said Mr Walker: “For all those who mowed down citizens in Modern Warfare 2’s controversial airport level, I have the sneaking suspicion that not a great deal of them think this is lawful, nor appropriate, behaviour.”

Jim Rossignol, who also writes on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, said there was scope to mix real world rules of war into games.

“Whether or not the rules of war are included in the game should be based entirely on whether that improves the experience for the player,” he said.

Mr Rossignol said there was plenty of evidence that gaming violence is “fully processed” as fantasy by gamers. Studies of soldiers on the front line in Iraq showed that being a gamer did not desensitise them to what they witnessed.

He added: “Perhaps what this research demonstrates is that the researchers misunderstand what games are, and how they are treated, intellectually, by the people who play them.’

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When these supposed games become reality and your daughter or son is on the DoD confirmed list, what then kind caring war mongerer’s?

This is what happens……….

Photo: Mahmud Hams/Agence France Presse - Getty images

TOO LATE TO CRY IS IT NOT? DO SOMETHING NOW FOR THE GODDESS SAKE, FOR YOUR CHILDRENS’ SAKE FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD.

NAMASTE

A former horse riding school in Lithuania was turned into a secret prison for al-Qaeda operatives. It had been suggested for years that the CIA operated secret prisons for the illegal torture of suspected enemy agents. In investigations by ABC News, Lithuanian government officials and unnamed former intelligence operatives, the CIA built the secret jail in 2004 and used it for more than a year, flying in at least eight suspected al-Qaeda terrorists from Afghanistan.

CIA ‘ran secret prison for al-Qaeda’ in Lithuanian riding school (Telegraph UK)

Lithuanian officials open new inquiry into secret CIA prisons (Boston Globe)

EXCLUSIVE: CIA Secret ‘Torture’ Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy in Lithuania

ABC
November 19, 2009

The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former U.S. intelligence official told ABC News this week.

Lithuanian officials provided ABC News with the documents of what they called a CIA front company, Elite, LLC, which purchased the property and built the “black site” in 2004.

KSM’s children tortured with insects

Raw Story
April 17, 2009

Fenton has two questions: “Did the Khans invent the allegations or garble them in some way and then ‘get lucky’ two years later, when it was revealed the CIA was, at least, contemplating the techniques they alleged it used at the time in question?” and “Given that nobody heard of the CIA using insects for another two years, why would they invent these specific allegations, which sounded bizarre when they were made?”

Brian Ross and Matthew Cole broke the story last night on the ABC News website. Their report on “Good Morning America” from Thursday morning (2:51):

Until March 2004, “the site was a riding academy and café owned by a local family” in Antavillai, Lithuania. Then, it was purchased by Elite L.L.C., a front corporation of the Central intelligence Agency, and used as a “secret ‘torture center’” in the Bush Administration’s “extraordinary rendition” kidnapping and torture program, Brian Ross and Matthew Cole report at ABC News from documents provided by Lithuanian officials and confirmed by one current official and a former U.S. intelligence official.

John Sifton, human rights lawyer and executive director of One World Research, investigates human rights abuses worldwide. He recently told Anastasia Churkina at Russia Today that C.I.A. agents kept detainees alive just to keep torturing them and found the C.I.A. “set up extensive detention programs around the world” that started in Thailand and expanded to Afghanistan, Jordan, Poland, Romania and another unknown. The third European site, he was told, bordered Poland and many C.I.A. flights went in and out of Lithuania.

After then-President George W. Bush pledged support for Lithuanian efforts to join the NATO alliance in 2002, Mr. Ross and Mr. Cole report, the government “agreed to allow the C.I.A. prison”. Coincidentally, Lithuania formally joined NATO in March 2004.

ABC News first reported that Lithuania was one of three eastern European countries, along with Poland and Romania, where the CIA secretly interrogated suspected high-value al-Qaeda terrorists, but until now the precise site had not been confirmed….

Former CIA officials directly involved or briefed on the highly classified secret prison program tell ABC News that as many as eight suspects were held for more than a year in the Vilnius prison. Flight logs viewed by ABC News confirm that CIA planes made repeated flights into Lithuania during that period. In November 2005, after public disclosures about the program, the prison was closed, as was another “black site” in Romania….

Former CIA officials told ABC News that the prison in Lithuania was one of eight facilities the CIA set-up after 9/11 to detain and interrogate top al-Qaeda operatives captured around the world. Thailand, Romania, Poland, Morocco, and Afghanistan have also been identified as countries that housed secret prisons for the CIA. President Barack Obama ordered all the sites closed shortly after taking office in January.

The Lithuanian prison was the last “black” site opened in Europe, after the CIA’s secret prison in Poland was closed down in late 2003 or early 2004.

“It obviously took a lot of effort to keep [the prison] secret,” said John Sifton, whose firm One World Research investigates human rights abuses. “There’s a reason this stuff gets kept secret.”

“It’s an embarrassment, and a crime.”

Though, the C.I.A. detention program was smaller than that of the military, Mr. Sifton found it was “the one that saw the biggest abuses and most serious forms of torture” and was exponentially clandestine. The Agency’s secret prisons are commonly known as “black sites” which served as a “model” for the military’s.

He added that the Obama Administration has prevented the C.I.A. from detaining people and using “black sites”, but are still permitted to interrogate detainees.

“Domas Grigaliunas, a former counterintelligence officer with the Lithuanian military, said it was widely known among the Lithuanian secret services that U.S. intelligence partners had built the site, although its original purpose was kept highly classified,” Craig Whitlock reports at The Washington Post, adding:

Grigaliunas said he was asked in 2004 by the deputy director of Lithuanian military intelligence to develop plans to help a “foreign partner” that was interested in bringing individuals to Lithuania and concealing their whereabouts as part of a covert operation.…

Villagers who live in a crumbling apartment complex about 100 yards from the site recalled how English-speaking construction workers descended on a small, shuttered horse-riding academy there in 2004. They said the workers refused to answer questions about what they were doing but brought shipping containers filled with building materials. The workers also excavated large amounts of soil; with all the digging, residents said they assumed that part of the new facility was underground.

“If you got close, they would tell us, in English, to go away,” said a retired man who lives nearby and spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing fears of retribution. “We were really wondering what they were up to. We even wondered if it was a Mafia drug operation or something.“

Lithuanian officials, including President Dalia Grybauskaite, denied the initial report from ABC News with the Polish and Romanian governments. She would not comment to them on the most recent report, though she said she harbored “indirect suspicions” and was not in power while the “black site” was reportedly sold to the Lithuanian State in 2007. “‘There are more important things in Lithuania than spending two days denying the gossip of ABC journalists,’ Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas told the Baltic News Service,” David Edwards reports at The Raw Story.

The extremely redacted C.I.A. Inspector General report found detainees faced mock executions, threats to kill and rape family members, waterboarding, extensive pressure point restriction, forced stress positions, sleep and light deprivation in custody. Not redacted was a case where a detainee was beaten to death by a private contractor.

Bill O’Reilly: “I Don’t Care About The Constitution”

This post is by guest writer Robert Nijssen who also has his own blog.

Abu Omar is an imam from Egyptian origin, who was kidnapped by the CIA from the streets of Milan. For more information on his kidnapping please refer to my original post here. Last week the Italian trial against the involved CIA operatives was concluded and most of the operatives received substantial jail sentences. Please refer here for the whole story, or here for an interesting counter opinion.

U.S. Navy Kidnapped Islanders and Gassed Their Dogs

National Expositor
October 26, 2009

In a related article about Diego Garcia, Vine has written: “With support for the Chagossians’ struggle growing in both the United States and Britain at the same time that revelations about a secret CIA prison are spreading, the United States must finally act to remedy the damage done by another Guantánamo damaging too many lives and undermining its international legitimacy. The United States must allow the Chagossians to return and assist Britain in paying them proper compensation; the United States must close the detention facilities and open Diego Garcia to international investigators; the United States must end the painful irony that is a base the military calls the ‘Footprint of Freedom.’”

Former UK ambassador: CIA sent people to be ‘raped with broken bottles’

Daniel Tencer
Raw Story
November 5, 2009

Read Full Article Here