Undersupplied US soldiers forced to steal water in Iraq
by David Edwards and John Byrne
You thought the lack of armor-plated Humvees was bad.US soldiers are now being forced to steal water in Iraq. With supplies tight, and the number of trucks carrying potable water even tighter, troops have resorted to stealing water from civilian contractors. Many have also reportedly suffered from dysentery because they were forced to drink untreated water from Iraqi wells. |
Popular cereal is a drug, US food watchdog says
by AFP
Popular US breakfast cereal Cheerios is a drug, at least if the claims made on the label by its manufacturer General Mills are anything to go by, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said."Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug," the FDA said in a letter to General Mills which was posted on the federal agency's website Tuesday. |
Soldier's father: Army 'broke' his son
by Schuyler Dixon
The father of a U.S. soldier accused of killing five fellow troops in Iraq said his son "forfeited his life" but the military bears some responsibility for the rampage.Wilburn Russell said Tuesday that 44-year-old Army Sgt. John M. Russell wasn't typically a violent person, but counselors "broke" him before gunfire erupted in a military stress center Monday in Baghdad. |
The Hidden Hand of Dick Cheney
by Juan Cole
Out of office, he continues to push his tortured version of reality -- and his vision of an imperial presidency -- and there are signs he is succeeding.Dick Cheney is out there. He is defending torture, dissing Colin Powell, and genuflecting before radio personality Rush Limbaugh as the high priest of what's left of conservatism. His refusal to go quietly, unlike his much-reviled boss, is risky. He was a laugh line more than once at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner. |
The Massive Expansion of America's "Hard Left"
by Glenn Greenwald
Jesse Ventura was on CNN with Larry King last night and this exchange occurred, illustrating how simple, clear and definitively non-partisan is the case for investigations and prosecutions for those who ordered torture (video below): VENTURA: I don't watch much TV. This year's reading, I covered Bush's life. I covered Guantanamo and a few other subjects. |
Pelosi The Enabler
by Robert Scheer
Nancy Pelosi is no Dick Cheney, nor a George W. Bush. She was neither the author of a systematic policy of torture nor has she been, like Cheney and most top Republicans in Congress, an enduring apologist for its practice. It is a nonsensical distraction to place her failure to speak out courageously as a critic of the Bush policies on the same level as those who engineered one of the most shameful debacles in U.S. history. |
Massacre Puts War Trauma Under the Spotlight
by Aaron Glantz
SAN FRANCISCO - A U.S. soldier shot five of his colleagues dead at a base in Baghdad, Iraq Monday. The Pentagon says at least two other people were hurt in the shootings and the gunman is in custody.Details are still coming in, but the incident reportedly happened at a stress clinic where troops get help for personal issues or combat trauma. |
Hugo Chavez: a false Venezuelan democracy
by Aimee Kligman
Diego Arria is a distinguished diplomat, who served as Venezuela’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in the 90’s, and as the President of the UN Security Council (1992-1993). Prior to that, he served as the Governor of Caracas and the Minister of Information and Tourism. Mr. Arria is currently involved in supporting and organizing opposition movements challenging the regime of Hugo Chávez. |
STRESSES: Just What did Geithner Accomplish with "NEGOTIATED" Stress Test Results???
by Fred Cederholm
I’ve been thinking about stresses. Actually I’ve been thinking about Treasury Secretary Geithner’s stress tests, rosy scenarios, the missing laugh track, the classes of 2009, households, and the automotive giants. Last week the public learned the “results” of Treasury Secretary Timmy (the Tiger) Geithner’s stress tests which had been performed on America’s 19 largest financial (banking) behemoths. |
Perfect grades or else; late bloomers need not apply
by Pierre Tristam
Brooke Wolfe is an Atlantic High School honor student with an excellent 3.63 grade-point average. She applied to Florida Atlantic University -- not exactly the Harvard of the Gold Coast -- and four other schools. She was turned down by all five, forcing her into the third-rate anteroom of community-college education. What should never have happened to Wolfe is happening to thousands of students across the state. They have the grades, the will, the ability to make it in any state school. What they lack is a state university system enabled to give them the chance. It's not for lack of space or capability, but of lawmakers literate in what's best for Florida. |
A Progressive Challenge to Jane Harman
by Norman Solomon
There are many reasons why progressives will mobilize behind the campaign of Marcy Winograd, who announced on Monday that she'll challenge incumbent Congresswoman Jane Harman in the 2010 Democratic primary.Some will speak of Harman's pro-war record. Some will recall her support for warrantless wiretapping, followed by her irony-free indignation when it turned out that NSA snoops had taped her own phone conversations. Some will recount Harman's long public silence after being briefed on torture by the U.S. government. |
Cheney to Travel Around Country in Sound Truck: Hopes to Bring Pro-Torture Message to Every State
by Andy Borowitz
In a sign that he has no intention of going away quietly, former Vice President Dick Cheney embarked today on a nationwide road trip in a sound truck equipped with a state-of-the-art bullhorn.The formerly reclusive Mr. Cheney has been a ubiquitous fixture on Sunday talk shows and right-wing radio programs in recent weeks, but his decision to tour the nation in a 2000-watt sound truck shows a heightened determination to spread his pro-torture message from coast to coast. |
One-Two-Three What Are We Fighting For? The War Crimes Song-and-Dance Routine
by Dave Lindorff
We're been here before, many times.The US causes massive civilian deaths through its indiscriminate use of heavy air power, and then tries to claim it's the enemy's fault for "hiding" among the civilians and "using them as shields."In Vietnam, where the US was fighting against a local revolutionary movement that was seeking to overthrow the puppet regime backed by America, American planes routinely bombed and napalmed villages, claiming that the Viet Cong were hiding amongst the peasants. Women, old men and children would die in droves--several million of them by the time that war was over--and we'd be told it was all the fault of the Communists, who, we were told, had no regard for innocent life. |
Complicit Democrats and Cronies Cover Up Bush Crimes
by Bill Gallagher
"American Flier, Endured Harsh Interrogation Techniques in a Chinese Prison, Is Dead." Given the institutional aversion the New York Times and most of the mainstream media have to using the word "torture," that's how the headline in the Times should have read. Instead, in a lapse of honesty, the headline read: "Harold E. Fischer Jr., 83, American Flier Tortured in a Chinese Prison, Is Dead." |
Cheney in 2012?
by Cenk Uygur
At first when I heard Ross Douthat, the new conservative op-ed writer at the New York Times, had suggested that the GOP should have run Dick Cheney as the presidential candidate in 2008, I thought he was another ridiculous right-winger. I thought he was seriously going to argue that Cheney would have won. But it turns out he had a different point, a very interesting point. |
Being anti-torture doesn't make you pro-terrorist
by Matt Taibbi
"WASHINGTON — Torture is an impermissible evil. Except under two circumstances. The first is the ticking time bomb. An innocent’s life is at stake. The bad guy you have captured possesses information that could save this life. He refuses to divulge. In such a case, the choice is easy. Even John McCain, the most admirable and estimable torture opponent, says openly that in such circumstances, “You do what you have to do.” And then take the responsibility. |
