Thursday, November 26, 2009

UK Judges and Special Advocates refuse to back down regarding release of information on torture of innocent man Binyan Mohamed


Last Friday Lord Justice Thomas and Mr. Justice Lloyd Jones , issued a sixth judgment on the case (PDF), declaring that the treatment of Mohamed “could never properly be described as ‘a secret’ or an ‘intelligence secret’ or ‘a summary of classified intelligence,’” .

They also restored two passages from their fifth judgment, which were removed at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Full text and details about the case HERE - "UK Judges Comapre Binyam Mohamed's Torture to that of Abu Zubaydah" - by Andy Worthington - November 26, 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Does American Congress matter for USA Military and Blackwater ("Xe Services")’s Assassins?

ASSASSINS FOR HIRE - USA MILITARY STRATEGIES:

"Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan"
Article published on November 23, 2009 - The Nation - HERE

Extracts:

"They make much more money being the smarts of these operations, planning hits in various countries and basing it off their experience in Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Ethiopia," said the military intelligence source. "They were there for all of these things, they know what the hell they're talking about. And JSOC has unfortunately lost the institutional capability to plan within, so they hire back people that used to work for them and had already planned and executed these [types of] operations. They hired back people that jumped over to Blackwater SELECT and then pay them exorbitant amounts of money to plan future operations. It's a ridiculous revolving door."

"Colonel Wilkerson said that he is concerned that with General McChrystal's elevation as the military commander of the Afghan war--which is increasingly seeping into Pakistan--there is a concomitant rise in JSOC's power and influence within the military structure. "I don't see how you can escape that; it's just a matter of the way the authority flows and the power flows, and it's inevitable, I think," Wilkerson told The Nation. He added, "I'm alarmed when I see execute orders and combat orders that go out saying that the supporting force is Central Command and the supported force is Special Operations Command," under which JSOC operates. "That's backward. But that's essentially what we have today."

"There's no real oversight. It's not really on people's radar screen."

"Contractors and especially JSOC personnel working under a classified mandate are not [overseen by Congress], so they just don't care. If there's one person they're going after and there's thirty-four people in the building, thirty-five people are going to die. That's the mentality."

"According to federal lobbying records, Kestral recently hired former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, who served in that post from 2003 to 2005, to lobby the US government, including the State Department, USAID and Congress, on foreign affairs issues "regarding [Kestral's] capabilities to carry out activities of interest to the United States." Noriega was hired through his firm, Vision Americas, which he runs with Christina Rocca, a former CIA operations official who served as assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs from 2001 to 2006 and was deeply involved in shaping US policy toward Pakistan. In October 2009, Kestral paid Vision Americas $15,000 and paid a Vision Americas-affiliated firm, Firecreek Ltd., an equal amount to lobby on defense and foreign policy issues."

INTERVIEW :

Friday, November 20, 2009

Deniable Torture Handheld Gadgets: One of them - "PAIN RAY DEVELOPED BY ISRAELI ACADEMICS

"Israeli ‘portable pain ray’ raises fears of non-lethal weapons proliferation"

"Torture at the touch of a button"
By Daniel Tencer
The Raw Story - November 13, 2009 - HERE

Israeli researchers have developed a portable device that causes excruciating sensations of burning and can be built for just $250,000, raising fears that even the world’s poorest, most oppressive governments will now be able to use advanced non-lethal weapons on their civilian populations.

The Man-Portable Active Denial System, developed by researchers at the College of Judea and Samaria, can beam a microwave ray that causes skin surface to heat up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, causing the nerve cells in the skin to think they’re on fire.

Full article here

Documentary: "AMERICAN FAUST: From Condi to Neo-Condi"

American Faust - A documentary that covers the career of American Condoleezza Rice - from the weapons of mass destruction lies to the torture program, she regrets nothing....

Worldwide Release December 2nd, 2009

DVD and download at:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvxjn4_american-faust_news

The trailer of "AMERICAN FAUST: From Condi to Neo-condi"

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Italian Court Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Rendition Case | AfterDowningStreet.org

More on the first extraordinary rendition conviction:

Italian Court Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Rendition Case

AfterDowningStreet.org

CIA "VIGILANTS" Convicted in Italy - Extraordinary Rendition First Conviction

At ABC News:
Convicted CIA Spy says: "We broke the Law"

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/exclusive-convicted-cia-spy-broke-law/story?id=8995107


And " The Nuremberg Defense: We were following orders"

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

Published on November 4, 2009 - The Raw Story

"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."

Full text at: http://rawstory.com/2009/11/ambassador-cia-people-tortured/

Watch UK British Diplomat - October 21, 2009:



Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Former President goes on trial for crimes against humanity:illegal arrests, torture, and killings during the "First War on Terror" in Argentina

Published on the "JURIST Legal News and Research"

"Former Argentina president goes on trial for 'Dirty War' rights abuses"

Former Argentine president and general Reynaldo Bignone went on trial (in spanish - Centro de Información Judicial) Monday for crimes against humanity allegedly perpetrated during Argentina's 1976-83 "Dirty War" [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The allegations, which include illegal arrest, torture, and killing of dissidents, stem from the 56 confirmed cases of torture at the Campo de Mayo military base outside Buenos Aires. An Argentinian judge ordered Bignone's arrest and ruled that he would face criminal charges [JURIST reports] in March 2007. Bignone, 81, is being tried along with five other Argentine generals, including Santiago Omar Riveros, who was convicted of human rights abuses [JURIST report] in August and sentenced to life in prison for killing 15-year-old Floreal Avellaneda and detaining his mother during the dictatorship. Witness testimony is set to begin November 10, and the trial is expected to last until March 2010.

Full text HERE