One Malcolm Nance, who has personal experience on the issue, explains why Waterboarding is Torture... Period.

The Democrats and the Democratic presidential candidates seem to be against applying such obviously illegal and amoral methods.

That is fine.

But can someone please ask them how they will handle those U.S. people who recently ordered, supervised and applied such illegal torture?

Under the standards of the Nuremberg Trials all three of these groups should be prosecuted, jailed and, under U.S. law, probably put to death.

What is Obama's, Hillary's and John Edwards' stand on this issue?

In his diary they don't care about us and never did kid oakland makes some valid points on how little the Democrats in Washington care about the progressive "kooks" that support them.

We are utterly taken for granted.

From the point of view of the majority of long-standing Democratic politicians we are seen as nameless, faceless, trouble-making, easily replaceable, meddlesome busybodies and...not much more.

That view is correct and troublesome and we ought to change this.

Kid suggest local engagement. Fine. But there are better tools available.

From the annals of somewhat ridiculous news:

Reuters, August 16, 2007

U.S. and Afghan air and ground forces pounded al Qaeda militants for a second day on Thursday in the Tora Bora mountains close to the Pakistan border ..

BBC, December 11, 2001

Eyewitness: New assault on Tora Bora

A new offensive is under way in eastern Afghanistan to try to dislodge al-Qaeda fighters from positions in the hills above the Tora Bora cave complex.

It is tiresome to again and again refute U.S. lies about Iran's civil nuclear program. But it is important to not let the propaganda win and to refute it every time it threatens to take the lead.

Bush yesterday said:

[I]t's up to Iran to prove to the world that they're a stabilizing force as opposed to a destabilizing force. After all, this is a government that has proclaimed its desire to build a nuclear weapon.

President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with President Karzai of Afghanistan, August 6, 2007

Will someone in the U.S. media please call this what it is - simply an outrageous lie?

Why is this a lie? Because the Iranian government has consistently proclaimed that it does NOT desire to build a nuclear weapon.

Here is, again, proof:

(x-posted at Moon of Alabama)

While being totally against the U.S. war on Iraq, I still feel some empathy for the troops being send there. Having been a soldier myself, it is painful to see them wasted for no cause. It is outrages to see some hurt because they are led by fundamentalist officers.

In today's Washington Post, David Finkel writes about such a case:

Everything in the Army is supposed to have a task and a purpose, and this simple mission was no different. The task was to get 27 soldiers from Point A to Point B, from their neighborhood combat outpost to an Army base four miles away. The purpose was to attend a memorial service for one of their fellow soldiers, who had died eight days earlier while attempting to make the very same trip.

The platoon is supposed to do counter-insurgency work by caring for the security of Iraqi civilians. But it is ordered to take a dangerous trip to attend a memorial service.

Who is behind this?

(x-posted at Moon of Alabama)

In a Washington Post OpEd arch-zionist, likudnik, human rights promoter and GWB favorite Natan Sharansky is urging against a U.S. pullout:  Leave Iraq and Brace for a Bigger Bloodbath.

In doing so, Sharansky manipulates results to some questions asked in a poll he cites, while ignoring other questions and answers that do not support his opinion.

(x-posted at Moon of Alabama)

The British officials are freaking out about the incidents in London and Glasgow, pushing the terror alert to the top level. According to the BBC they do believe the cars found in London and the car incident in Glasgow are connected because there are "similarities".

Chief Constable Willie Rae said: "There are clearly similarities, and we can confirm that [the Glasgow attack] is being treated as a terrorist incident."

Please consider these "similarities":

• In London two Mercedes were used.
• In Glasgow a Jeep Cherokee was involved.

  ...

Two days ago the press corps and White House spokesperson Dana Perino were collectively speculating about Cheney's positioning in the executive and/or legislative branch.

MS. PERINO: The executive functions are given to him by the President. For example, the Vice President's paycheck comes from the Senate. So these are -- that's an interesting constitutional question.

Ms. Perino, dear press corps, please let me help with some scientific background:

(crossposted at Moon of Alabama)

There is a new detailed analysis out on the "War and Operation in Iraq" written by the Global Policy Forum and some thirty non-governmental-organizations. It is impeccable sourced on mainstream news accounts and official reports.

The currently ongoing "pacification" of Baqubah, a city with 300,000 inhabitants, by some 10,000 U.S. troops is using the same methods as documented in the NGO report with regard to Fallujah and a dozen other Iraqi cities. From the executive summary (pdf):

US Coalition forces have attacked and destroyed a number of important Iraqi cities, on grounds that they were "insurgent strongholds." The attacks have resulted in the massive displacement of people, large civilian casualties, and colossal destruction of the urban physical infrastructure.

crossposted at Moon of Alabama

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History professor Andrew J. Bacevich questions why every major politician wants to add some 100,000 troops and increase defense spending. "What is the use?" he asks.

At the Agonist Ian Welsh has a related question. How does the most expensive military in the world manages to lose two small wars against rag-tag insurgencies?

There are two answers to this:

(X-posted at Moon of Alabama)

Connect these dots:

• The U.S. army is building a large wall to seperate one area in Baghdad from its neighbor areas. This to control everything going in and out from the area and against the wishes of the inhabitants. The effort started on April 10 but was only reported yesterday.
• One of the main arteries between that area and its neighbor areas is a large bridge crossing the Tigris.
• On April 12 said bridge got blown up by a "truck bomb."
• Retired military experts immediately doubted the "truck bomb" story and suspected a professional demolition job.
• When the news about the separate and control wall got out on April 19, the spokesman for the army tried to obfuscate the issue.

Who most likely did blow up the bridge?
Where does the "walling off" idea come from?
How are the chances for this to work?

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

More after the jump.

Hizbullah's older anti-tank weapons have been effective against armoured personnel carriers and buildings used by soldiers for shelters. Its newer weapons such as the Russian Kornet and US TOW missiles have been highly effective succeeded in piercing the armour of Israel's main battle tank, the Merkava, reputedly one of the best-defended tanks in the world.
Guardian: Computerised weaponry and high morale

Five thoughts on Lebanon:

There were cultural(1) and economic(2) reasons for Israel to attack Lebanon. But there are several hints that the current attack is a premature ejaculation(3).  Disarming Hizbullah is only possible by rearranging the inner Lebanese political system(4). An effective UN force in Lebanon will need a tough air-defense and marine component. A new Lebanese political system has to evolve to secure that nation(5).

How will the current Lebanon conflict end?

Israel is day by day losing its moral ground. Attacks on clearly marked ambulances, the use of cluster ammunition and phosphorous bombs are now toping the obviously unproportional use of force applied since the first days of this war on Lebanon.

The mainstream media folks are in history altering propaganda mode, so here is my take for you to discuss of what has led to this and what, I think, the current endgame may be.

"Wer hat uns verraten
Sozialdemokraten"

In English:

"Who did betray us
Social-de-mo-crats"

The slogan above is still shouted these days during left-wing rallies in Germany. Few remember its historic labor background though.

------

Your Honor,

let me first thank you for the opportunity to defend myself.

I am here accused of having burned down my neighbor's house.

Did I do so? Did I set fire on my neighbor's house?

Sure, I did. And I have never tried to hide that fact. Did this fire catch other houses too? Yes it did and I am really sorry it took down your house too, but then, yours, like the others, was an old and crumbling houses anyway.

But that is all not to the point. I am the wrong one to be accused here and that is why I reject any guilt in this case.

The only one who should be here in handcuffs and indicted is the locksmith. He is guilty of catastrophic mischief.

Let me tell you why.

The non-partisan Congressional Research Service has made a new estimate for the costs of the War on Iraq and War on Afghanistan. Like often, the Washington Post in reporting this buries the lead and the day's real headline in the second last paragraph of a page A16 story:

Of the total war spending, the CRS analysis found $4 billion that could not be tracked. It did identify $2.5 billion diverted from other spending authorizations in 2001 and 2002 to prepare for the invasion.

To my knowledge, this makes the CRS report the first official one to confirm the invasion of Iraq has been actively persued since 2001.

Today Bush stopped refilling the national emergency oil reserve which has been depleted in the aftermath of Katrina.

In 2004 Senator Kerry had demanded such a stop. What was Bush's answer?