“The media usually characterize (sic) the practice (waterboarding) as ’simulated drowning’. That’s incorrect. To be effective, waterboarding is usually real drowning that simulates death.” – Judge Evan Wallach.
Although Judge Wallach is currently a federal judge in the court of International Trade, he is, at least according to his Wikipedia entry, “one of the nations foremost experts on war crimes and the law of war.” Most importantly to this posting, his quote is correct.
“On the morning of Thursday, April 10, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon prepared a top-secret briefing for George W. Bush. This document, known as the Worldwide Intelligence Update, was a daily digest of critical military intelligence so classified that it circulated among only a handful of Pentagon leaders and the president; Rumsfeld himself often delivered it, by hand, to the White House. The briefing’s cover sheet generally featured triumphant, color images from the previous days’ war efforts: On this particular morning, it showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Firdos Square, a grateful Iraqi child kissing an American soldier, and jubilant crowds thronging the streets of newly liberated Baghdad. And above these images, and just below the headline SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, was a quote that may have raised some eyebrows. It came from the Bible, from the book of Psalms: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him…To deliver their soul from death.”
This mixing of Crusades-like messaging with war imagery, which until now has not been revealed, had become routine. On March 31, a U.S. tank roared through the desert beneath a quote from Ephesians: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” On April 7, Saddam Hussein struck a dictatorial pose, under this passage from the First Epistle of Peter: “It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.”
In the days surrounding the U.S. invasion of Iraq, cover sheets–like the ones in this slideshow–began adorning top-secret intelligence briefings produced by Ronald Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. The sheets juxtaposed war images with inspirational Bible quotes and were delivered by Rumsfeld himself to the White House, where they were read by the man whom, just after September 11, referred to America’s war on terror as a “crusade.” From GQ.
If 3,000 Americans had been killed on your watch, in an attack that could have been prevented, perhaps you’d be a little hesitant to accuse anyone else of endangering America. And if you had advocated torture, and the torture produced false information that you used to mislead America into an unwise, unjust and unwarranted war, you might be a tad sheepish about defending the use of torture.
Paul Begala, “Mr. Cheney, You did not keep us safe.”
“Ethnic cleansing in Luoland”, The Economist, 9 February 2008.
Peace talks get nowhere as western Kenya becomes ungovernable
AS THE road approaches Kisumu, Kenya’s third-biggest city and capital of the Luos, the country’s third-biggest but angriest ethnic group, it becomes littered with rubble and burnt vehicles. A man beats at a smouldering ambulance’s number-plate with his machete. “See,” he explains, “this belongs to the government of Kenya.” Mobs cry out for their fellow Luo, Raila Odinga, to be made president of Kenya. They plead for guns. An earnest man pushes to the front of one mob. “What we are saying is give violence a second chance.”
The Justice Department authorized the CIA to torture, including use of the waterboard. This authorization violated, among other treaties and laws, the UN Convention Against Torture and the Constitution of the United States. (more…)
Alternative headline: “Channelling Donald Trump”
Alternative headline #2: “What Color is “Air Force Blue”?
“I was asked by Gen. [Robert H.] McMahon what it would take to make the [capsule] . . . a ‘world class’ piece of equipment,” an officer at the service’s Air Mobility Command said in a March 2007 e-mail to a colleague, referring to the mobility command’s top officer then. “He said he wanted an assurance . . . that we would be getting a world class item this week.” Article.
Update 7/24/08: The New York Times editorial board has jumped, somewhat tardily, on the Post’s reporting. They are somewhat mean about it. No need to bring up those loose missiles.
Congress never envisioned comfort-class counterterrorism, particularly with beds affording “no more than 50 percent compression of the mattress material”… yet the [Air Force] still diverted $331,000 in counterterrorism money to cover last-minute design changes ordered up as the brass waxed stylistic over the color of seat belts, carpets and swivel executive chairs. (Apparently everyone was happy with the drapes and the full-length capsule mirror.)…
[The mean part:] Last year a B-52, carrying six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, flew across the country without anyone realizing the weapons were missing. In another dangerous mix up, the Air Force shipped four nose-cone fuses for Minuteman nuclear warheads to Taiwan. Most recently, the Air Force bungled the bidding on a $35 billion contract for refueling tankers.
Mr. Gates is right to demand a lot more accountability from the Air Force. We recommend that the new leaders start by questioning at least four generals about how comfort capsules, with Air Force blue leather seats, will help defeat Al Qaeda.
For the first time ever, a videotaped interrogation of a terror suspect at Guantanamo Bay has been released to the public.
