* * * * * totaltruthsciences * * * * *

In commemorating the 230th anniversary of America's independence last July, President George W. Bush noted that the patriots of the Revolutionary War believed that all men are created equal, and with inalienable rights. Because of these ideals, he proclaimed, the United States "remains a beacon of hope for all who dream of liberty and a shining example to the world of what a free people can achieve."

 But, at the same time, his administration was holding approximately 400 prisoners at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Some of them have now been there for more than five years. None of them has ever been put on trial.

 Last month, a highly reputable source confirmed that the Guantanamo prisoners are suffering from more than indefinite detention. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation released documents showing that an FBI agent witnessed "on several occasions" detainees who were "chained hand and foot in [a] fetal position to [the] floor," without a chair, or food or water. In these conditions, "most urinated or defecated on [them]selves." They were left there for 18 or 24 hours, or more.

On one of these occasions, the agent reported, "the air conditioning was turned up so low that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold." On another occasion the room was unventilated, the temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the detainee was almost unconscious on the floor with a pile of hair next to him - "he had apparently been pulling it out throughout the night."

Another FBI agent was laughingly told by a civilian contractor, "[Y]ou have to see this." He was then taken to an interrogation room where he saw a longhaired man with a full beard who was gagged with duct tape that "covered much of his head." When the agent asked how the tape would be removed, he was not given any answer.

Other FBI agents reported seeing prisoners left in shackles for 12 hours or more, again in cold conditions, being subjected to strobe lights and loud rap music for many hours, or being forced to wrap themselves in an Israeli flag. The FBI report noted these incidents with the comment: "doesn't seem excessive given Department of Defense policy."

Several of the detainees told the FBI agents that they had no connection with terrorism and had no idea why they had been abducted and taken to Guantanamo. Many prisoners were not captured fighting in Afghanistan. Some were picked up in Bosnia, Indonesia, Thailand, Mauritania and Pakistan.

The Bush administration says that the detainees are "enemy combatants" in the global "war against terror" - a war that is being waged around the world, and that could last for decades. The commander of the Guantanamo task force, Rear Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr., recently defended harsh treatment of his prisoners, claiming, "They're all terrorists; they're all enemy combatants."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

But the CIA has made mistakes before. For example, Murat Kurnaz, a German-born Turkish man, was held in Guantanamo for four years before being released last August. The case of Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, appears to be another of these errors. Seized by the CIA in Macedonia, he was taken to Afghanistan and interrogated for five months before being released without charge. A German court has now issued arrest warrants for those involved in his abduction.

If there are any human rights at all, the right not to be locked up indefinitely without trial is surely one of them. The US Constitution's Bill of Rights puts considerable emphasis on that right, specifying in the 6th Amendment that in all criminal prosecutions, "the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury" and "to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him." None of the Guantanamo inmates has been granted these rights. So it has never been proved, by the standards laid down in the US Constitution that any of them really are terrorists.

But the 6th Amendment does not apply to the Guantanamo prisoners, because they are not US citizens and are in a facility that, technically, is not part of US territory, although it is under the full control of the US government. Whatever US courts say about it, abducting people all over the world, locking them up for years without establishing that they are guilty of anything, and subjecting them to harsh and abusive treatment is a flagrant violation of international law. By any standard of justice, it is also just plain wrong.

Tom Paine, the great American revolutionary and author of "The Rights of Man," wrote: "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself."

If America would only follow that advice, it might really be a beacon of hope and a shining example. But as long as it continues to hold and abuse prisoners without giving them a fair trial, America's professed ideals will continue to sound to the rest of the world like the deepest hypocrisy.

Peter Singer is professor of bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne. His books include "One World" and "The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush." THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/10/AR2007031001253

 Mishal al-Harbi's brain was deprived of oxygen for several minutes on the evening of Jan. 16, 2003, while he was in U.S. detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As a result, he cannot stand, his speech is slurred, and he has a twitch that periodically causes his head to shake and his legs to jerk.

U.S. authorities say Mishal's brain was damaged when he tried to hang himself at Guantanamo. But his brother Fahd says a beating by prison guards cut off the flow of oxygen, leaving Mishal unable to walk or talk properly. Fahd said his brother needs intensive physical therapy and costly medicine to control his seizures and hallucinations -- side effects of the injury -- and he wants the U.S. government to help pay for them.

Mishal's family says it is seeking not only financial compensation but also concrete answers from the U.S. government -- either an admission that Mishal was injured by guards or proof that he tried to kill himself. But given the intense secrecy surrounding the detainees at Guantanamo, finding out exactly what occurred that day in 2003 appears almost impossible.

"He was just like the rest of his brothers before he left," said Mishal's mother, Hamida Owayid, her head covered with a blue scarf and her feet decorated with henna. "What did the Americans do to him?"

The military prison at Guantanamo opened in January 2002 to house suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters rounded up during the U.S. war to topple the Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic militia that ruled most of Afghanistan at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Mishal was captured in late 2001 and transferred to Guantanamo a few months later.

Despite widening allegations of detainee abuse, the Pentagon has refused to allow independent monitors and human rights groups into Guantanamo. The International Committee of the Red Cross and, more recently, a few lawyers have been given minimal access, but the Red Cross is not allowed to speak publicly about conditions there.

Because he also has memory lapses, Mishal said, he is not sure how he was injured. But former detainees -- about 400 men have been released from the facility, and nearly 400 remain -- have reported regular beatings, and Fahd said he believes his brother was attacked by guards.

Mishal's devotion to Islam would have prevented him from attempting suicide, Fahd said. "With the strength of his faith, which took him all the way to Afghanistan, it's impossible that he tried to kill himself. He knows that you spend eternity in hell if you do that."

Fahd, 32, has watched over his younger brother since their father died when they were children. Perhaps if he had been more vigilant, he said, Mishal might not have ended up in Afghanistan in 2001. But as a government employee supporting their mother, two younger brothers and a sister with Down syndrome, Fahd was consumed with work and out of town for months at a time.

Mishal dropped out of school when he was 14 and began working odd jobs to help support the family. When he had saved enough money, he bought a used truck and picked up passengers at the airport, his mother said.

In his free time, Mishal played soccer, listened to pop music and sneaked cigarettes, Fahd said.

Then, suddenly, Mishal stopped smoking, a habit that ultra-devout Muslims consider a sin, and replaced his music cassettes with taped Koranic verses and sayings of the prophet Muhammad, Fahd said. About a year later, around June 2001, he disappeared from the family home in Medina, Saudi Arabia. He called a month later, saying he was in Afghanistan and asking for forgiveness from his mother and brother for traveling without telling them.

From:

It gets worse! I woke up in the middle of the night to see this on C-Span 2 Monday, March 12 at 3:05 am.  It's WORSE than what we were told about Abu-Ghraib.  Brigadier General Janice Karpensiki (busted to Colonel) is the star witness of the atrocities at Abu-Ghraib, where she was not permitted to enter the CIA cells.  She was in Berlin to testify in the abuse.  This followed by VNRs --  Planted fake stories for media propaganda. Democracy Now! http://tinyurl.com/y7qdcd

The CIA got caught red handed doing Extreme Rendition, which Bush had to later admit, after saying "We don't torture."  Rice said the same thing in Germany and almost laughed out of Germany. Later after getting caught with his arm in the cookie jar, Cheney said, "What's a little waterboarding."   Several of the CIA were prosecuted in Europe and there is a warrant for Rumsfeld's arrest in Germany. Gitmo remains open, but the Dems said they were going to close it since becoming the majority.

The author said, they used front groups which turned out to be lawyer's offices, who registered business with the states, then had planes leaving from small obscured airports used by the CIA for their covert operations. 

This will be a real page turner  -- The war on terrorism. (Book review on C-Span)

"Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights" by Trevor Paglen and A.C. Thompson

Description: Trevor Paglen and A.C. Thompson talk about the CIA's practice of sending suspected terrorists to countries where, the authors argue, they are kept in secret prisons and subjected to torture. They explain how the CIA uses front companies to hide the real purpose of these rendition flights and discuss how they investigated the story. This event was hosted by City Lights bookstore in San Francisco.

Author Bio: Trevor Paglen, who is working on his PhD (Dept. of Geography, UC-Berkeley), is the author of the two-volume "Secret Bases, Secret Wars" (http://www.paglen.com). A.C. Thompson is a staff writer at S.F. Weekly.

Limit Telephotography

http://www.paglen.com/pages/projects/nowhere/photos_images.htm

CURRENT PROJECTS http://www.paglen.com/pages/projects.htm

This was just one of the CIA prisons, but they had them in Egypt, Poland and various other countries that permit torture.

The Salt Pit Shomali Plains Northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan

The Salt Pit is located in an old brick factory a few miles northeast of Kabul, along an isolated back-road connecting Kabul to Bagram.  Here they hung people for days at a time to torture them until they told their tortures what they wanted to hear.  Then it would later be used in the news i.e. Terrorist in shopping center, or try to connect Saddam to Al-Qaeda.

http://www.paglen.com/pages/projects/CIA/black_sites.html

Buy the Book  http://www.booktv.org/buying.asp?segid=7637  Amazon.com ; Barnes and Noble ; BookSense.com

http://www.booktv.org/General/index.asp?segID=7637&schedID=479

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From Mr. Paglen's Website -- How they use DARPA, Cameras to spy on us and war protestors, and Robots to write propaganda graffiti legally.  Bridging The Gap (Video) http://www.appliedautonomy.com/

New Video:  Synopsis: A 7 minute, 47 second introduction to IAA research.
QuickTime Video: Small (17 megs) | Large (55 megs)

http://www.appliedautonomy.com/video/BridgingTheGap_LAN.mov

Urgent! New Case Updates at: www.caedefensefund.org

Friends of IAA: On May 30th, 2004 the FBI began to issue subpoenas to members of Critical Art Ensemble, their colleagues and friends in an investigation of charges relating to bio-terrorism. Since then the FBI has changed tactics and formally charged Steve Kurtz of the Critical Art Ensemble and his collaborator, Robert Ferrell, Professor of Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, with charges of Mail and Wire Fraud. While this case has proven to be an embarrassment for the FBI, the charges are real and constitute a serious financial and emotional drain for everyone involved. Please visit the CAE Defense Fund to learn more about the case and to make donations.

Steven Kurtz was co-author of the Contestational Robotics essay.

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

Bush to send 3,500 more troops to Afghanistan 12 Mar 2007 President [sic] George Bush is to send another 3,500 American troops to Afghanistan, which would raise the number of US forces there to 27,000. President Bush announced the planned deployment in a letter sent to Congress on Saturday and the White House said on Sunday the troops would help train the Afghan army and police.

Halliburton CEO will oversee new Dubai headquarters 11 Mar 2007 Oil industry services provider Halliburton Co. announced Sunday that it will open a headquarters office in Dubai that will be overseen by Chairman and Chief Executive Dave Lesar, the Houston, Texas-based company said in a statement. Lesar will work closely in Dubai with senior vice president, Ahmed Lotfy, who heads eastern hemisphere operations, to bolster the company's ventures in the Middle East and Asia, as well as Africa, the Pacific and Europe. [Gee, wouldn't it be *awful* if Iraq's resistance fighters find Halliburton's headquarters in Dubai?]

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/3/11/apworld/20070311203747

Halliburton CEO moves from Houston to Dubai By JIM KRANE Associated Press Writer March 11, 2007, 12:32PM

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Oil services giant Halliburton Co. will soon shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to the Mideast financial powerhouse of Dubai, chief executive Dave Lesar announced Sunday.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/4620191.html

It's all a game for the Korptocracy!  Where is the Democracy.  Where is the justice? 

As Jacques Hardy wrote, "It's the End Of an Empire?"

----- Original Message -----

From:

Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 4:10 AM

Subject: Re: Trials of Guantanamo suspects begin without a lawyer or reporter in sight 07 Mar 2007

how long it will take to convert the USA into a decent country I have no idea

I give up! 

Even our own Congress has betrayed us.  They promised to bring the boys home, now they are supporting the surge, after Bush lied to take this country to war and his choir boy was caught guilty of outing a CIA agent for disgracing her husband doing his job.  There is already enough money in the Pipeline ($70 billion) for them to mop up and come home.  Gitmo is still in business for Bush's token POWs.  What's next!  Are they going to let him invade Iran?

They want to impeach Bush in Utah and Vermont.  Vermont wants to secede from the Union.  I would say we have a Constitutional Crisis in America.  America burns as Congress twiddles their thumbs.

This is a system of rule by the plutocratic oligarchy that runs the world in the corporate occupied territory of Washington DC!  We must get control of America and the world out of the hands of the handful of bankers, corporate capitalists and belligerent nationalists i.e. Bush, Blair, Howard, Harper, Olmert which have captured the planet, just like during the Revolution, and send them into the dustpan of history.  You can't influence them, you can't persuade them, you can't change them, you can't reform them.  All you can do is remove them. 

http://yannone.blogspot.com/2007/03/randi-rhodes-its-time-to-shoot-bastards.html

----- Original Message -----

From: CLG News

Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 9:51 PM

Subject: Trials of Guantanamo suspects begin without a lawyer or reporter in sight 07 Mar 2007

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
07 March 2007

http://www.legitgov.org/

All links to articles as summarized below are available here:

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

The Iraq That George Built --The Rec Report --By Michael Rectenwald Wednesday, 07 Mar 2007 Bush and Cheney have more than decimated Iraq. That is, in a country of 26 million people, Bush and Cheney have killed directly, caused the deaths indirectly, or caused the evacuation, of over four million people. That is, over 15% of the population has been cut up, root and branch, from the nation.

Trials of Guantanamo suspects begin without a lawyer or reporter in sight 08 Mar 2007 Campaigners have condemned the Bush administration's plan to proceed with secret proceedings against 14 "high-value" terrorism suspects currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. The military tribunals, scheduled to begin tomorrow, will take place behind closed doors and away from the scrutiny of the media. None of the suspects will be able to have a lawyer present.

US Democrats craft Iraq troop withdrawal deadline 08 Mar 2007 Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have tentatively settled on a timetable and conditions for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, which they hope to attach to a $100 billion Iraq war spending bill, senior lawmakers said on Wednesday. The lawmakers said they hoped to win approval of the plan by the House Appropriations Committee next week.

Over 1,100 journalists killed in decade-report 06 Mar 2007 More than 1,100 journalists and support staff have been killed carrying out their work in the past decade and the annual toll has jumped since 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a report said on Tuesday.

Iraq refugee: 'I feel disaster' as crisis grows 07 Mar 2007 The United Nations estimates 700,000 Iraqis have fled to Jordan -- more than one-tenth the entire kingdom's population. As many as 1 million more Iraqis are estimated to have sought refuge in Syria, about 120,000 are in Egypt and 40,000 in Lebanon, according to the United Nations. Inside Iraq, another 1 million to 2 million people have been forced out of their homes as a result of the violence, according to the United Nations.

Bomber Kills 30 People at Iraqi Cafe 07 Mar 2007 A suicide bomber killed more than 30 people Wednesday in a popular cafe northeast of Baghdad, and three American soldiers died when a roadside bomb exploded northwest of the capital, authorities said.

Three U.S. soldiers killed near Baghdad 07 Mar 2007 Three U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded by a roadside bomb near Baghdad on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

Pentagon orders mine-resistant trucks 07 Mar 2007 A new combat truck with a V-shaped bottom designed to withstand blasts from roadside bombs is performing with such success in Iraq that the U.S. military is pressing a Wisconsin company and others to churn out hundreds more in the coming months. [Coming months? Apparently, the US is not planning to leave Iraq any time soon.]

Only 28 percent of Americans think U.S. will win war in Iraq: poll 07 Mar 2007 Only 28 percent of Americans think their country will probably or definitely win the war in Iraq, down from 35 percent in December, and the lowest since the question was first asked in September 2005, a USA Today/Gallup poll published on Tuesday showed.

Israeli MK predicts attack on Iran 08 Mar 2007 Israeli Knesset member Effie Eitam has a reputation as a hawk, but on the question of Iran and its nuclear program, he believes he speaks for the country’s mainstream strategic thinkers. "Israel is preparing and will definitely take action," Eitam predicted. "Israelis survived the Holocaust not to live under that threat again."

U.S. opens door to bilateral talks with Iran 07 Mar 2007 The United States left open the possibility on Wednesday that U.S. diplomats could meet one-on-one with Iranian officials on the sidelines of a conference of Iraq's neighbors in Baghdad this weekend.

Experts Warn New U.S. Weapon Could Jumpstart Nuclear Arms Race By Haider Rizvi 06 Mar 2007 A U.S. plan to develop a new hydrogen bomb could spark production of new nuclear weapons by other countries, including several foes of the Bush administration, warn some of the nation's leading arms control and disarmament advocacy groups. Last Friday, the Department of Energy announced it was seeking to develop a new hydrogen bomb that would replace the existing W76 warhead now deployed on submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

Blair faces Labour revolt by 100 MPs over Trident 07 March 2007 More than 100 Labour MPs are ready to vote against the Government over the replacement of the £65bn Trident nuclear weapon system, leaving Tony Blair with the humiliation of relying on Conservative votes to get it through the Commons.

Hearings for 14 Guantanamo Detainees to Be Held in Secret, Officials Say --14 detainees will face separate three-officer panels out of view and without a lawyer. 07 Mar 2007 Military tribunals are scheduled to begin Friday for 14 high-value foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but the hearings to determine whether they are enemy combatants will take place behind closed doors, defense officials said yesterday. The hearings will be the first secret Combatant Status Review Tribunals at Guantanamo. The hearings were to be the first time men such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed made public appearances since their arrests and years-long detention in secret CIA facilities.

Australian Guantanamo inmate to face court 08 Mar 2007 Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks will have his first court appearance on March 20 charged with providing material support for terrorism, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday.

Liar in the White House: Cheney aide found guilty in CIA leak case --Saga of Washington's discredited WMD claims leads to the conviction for perjury of Dick Cheney's key aide 07 Mar 2007 In a massive new blow to the credibility of the White House, Vice-President [sic] Dick Cheney's former chief of staff Lewis Libby has been convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury and lying to the FBI, during the investigation into the leaking of the identity of a CIA agent.

Cheney under political cloud after Libby trial 07 Mar 2007 The White House offered support on Wednesday for Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney, a powerful proponent of the Iraq war, after the conviction of his top aide dealt a fresh blow to Cheney's political reputation and raised new questions about his influence. The trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby showed Cheney, often portrayed by critics as the shadowy Darth Vader [LOL!] behind the war in Iraq, was deeply involved in an effort to discredit a critic of the administration's prewar intelligence.

Libby Guilty of Lying in C.I.A. Leak Case 07 Mar 2007 I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney, was convicted on Tuesday of lying to a grand jury and to F.B.I. agents investigating the leak of the identity of a C.I.A. operative in the summer of 2003 amid a fierce public dispute over the war in Iraq.

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