I had already begun composing my post on the NIE and the question of when the executive branch was actually aware of this information a couple of days ago, but I became so angry that it was counterproductive. I picked it up again this morning, and was a couple of paragraphs into it when I got a link from OpEd News to the Keith Olbermann special commentary (I so wish that we had something more than network television). Chuck Adkins…
I received an email today from Senator Saxby Chambliss, and I’m posting both his communication and my own. Dear Ms. N: Thank you for contacting me regarding the National Security Agency’s (NSA) monitoring of conversations connected to terrorist activity and the treatment of military detainees. It is good to hear from you. I certainly understand your concerns regarding personal freedoms. We are blessed to live in a free and effective democracy, and, just like you, I hold dear the personal…
No kidding. Hell is open for business. Of course, “hell” is not the best translation of “L’Enfer.” “Inferno” would be better, but Hell rings about right (if you would excuse the pun) for much of the current American audience . [Aside: Have you ever looking into the meaning of “Lucifer”? Light-bearer, god of light, Venus, the morning star, son of dawn. In Hebrew it means “Helel (bright one) son of Shachar (dawn).” Helel, the morning star, was a Babylonian (Canaanite)…
William Glaberson reports that defense attorneys representing a 21-year-old being held prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “have been ordered by a military judge not to tell their client – or anyone else – the identity of witnesses against him” in the prisoner’s upcoming war crimes trial. Attorneys point out that this “would hamper their ability to build an adequate defense because they cannot ask their client or anyone else about prosecution witnesses, making it difficult to test the veracity of…
It grieves me that it could possibly be necessary to argue to an American – much less an American veteran – that torture undermines everything that we would like to think we stand for… 1992 U.S. Army Interrogation Field Manual 34-52 states: “Experience indicates that the use of prohibited techniques is not necessary to gain the cooperation of interrogation sources. Use of torture and other illegal methods is a poor technique that yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts,…
Chuck Hagel, Republican turning Democrat. Maybe he can give the Dems some… ahhh…. backbone. “This is one of the most arrogant, incompetent administrations I’ve ever seen personally or ever read about,” the always blunt and frequently quotable Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said yesterday during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “This administration in my opinion has been as unprepared as any administration I’m aware of,” Hagel added, “not only the ones that I have been…