Legalized Torture? The Case of Maher Arar

You've probably heard of this case - Maher Arar, Canadian citizen, while changing planes in JFK airport in New York City, is spirited-off by the FBI and the Department of Justice to Syria, where he is tortured for one year and released.





Well, an enterprising ex-journo picked up this important story for some practice at her ex-profession. She's done a wonderful job and is gaining more attention for the story. Check out her, so far, 18-piece blog on the case of Maher Arar. It seems clear that Ashcroft once again broke all sorts of US and international laws and deported Arar - a Canadian citizen - to Syria - to be tortured to get any information he had on Al Qaeda. Of course, he didn't have any information. His assumed guilt was based on the fact that he knew a couple of guys who were terror suspects. He knew a couple of guys who were terror suspects.





Arar most probably did not even know his acquaintenances were terror suspects, but that is besides the point. Many in the US have been trying to legitimize torture - I still haven't figured that out, but Arar's case brings home the brutality of what being brown and Muslim can be like, and the brutality of torture, and the lawlessness of our own Department of Justice. Everything about this case is wrong. This is not fairness - this is not American.





Please check out Katherine's blog of Maher Arar's case and spread the word.

TalkingPointsMemo down...

Must be hectic up in NH! What to do when our favorite blog is blogo-dead? (http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/) (01/23/04; 12.45 PM)

UPDATE: wow - that was quick. looks like we're back up again. (01/23/04; 12.50 PM)

UPDATE: maybe never down in the first place. Using the URL with the 'www' on front seems to have always worked, and the non-'www' URL still does not. Will it ever? Has it ever? Should it ever? Is it even supposed to be the same site?

UPDATE: oops - now the real site - 'www.talkingpointsmemo.com' - is definitely down, too.

UPDATE: well, my workplace has been having network issues today, so maybe that's what all this website-down stuff is today? no idea...didn't happen with other sites, like the ever-dependable Yahoo!. There were a few cases and brief time periods of not being able to reach Yahoo! and others, but never a regular HTTP error response page.

UPDATE: finally - confirmation from the source. The site actually was having some trouble, it seems.

How naïve could I possibly be?!

You know, just when I think I'm really starting to get the hang of reading between the lines of Bush Administration policy, the rug gets pulled out from under me. So many times. I suck. Ok, now that I've checked myself and my incredible gullibility, let's talk nuts and bolts. I and many others dismissed Bush's new immigration policy as pandering to the Latino vote, but of course, there may be other implications - high tech workers may be affected as well - not just those poor undocumented saps down at the local drive-thru car wash. Doh! You mean...<gulp>...this pandering might affect....me? Yeah, buddy, you.

But in a speech last week at the Cato Institute, an administration official indicated the program could extend to highly skilled positions as well. Margaret Spellings, assistant to the president for domestic policy, said details of the program have yet to be worked out. But she said the program will be "non-sector specific" and mentioned nurses and teachers as possible workers covered by the program.

Can you spell W-A-T-E-R-G-A-T-E?

One party spying on another? Undermining democracy? Hmmmm....sounds kinda familiar...

Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe.

Dean Supporters, Don't Give Up ... from Michael Moore

Michael Moore posts a quick letter on his website trying to lift despirited Howard Dean fans. I was a Dean supporter only in money, really, but it was still depressing to hear how Iowans voted for war-loving, Patriot-Acting Kerry. Give me a break. F*ck those f*ckin corn-growin' freaks! :D

Event: 1/22, Politics and Prose, DC

Bush-lovers, you will not want to be around for this one:

KEVIN PHILLIPS, discusses and signs copies of American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Thu., 1/22, at 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919.

UPDATE: This dude was good. Shorter presentation - abot 25 min I'd guess - another packed house at P&P - about 250 or so I guess. I actually got there 10 min before the event started and it was already packed up. Another standing-room-only event for the Bush-hatin crowd. Phillips was very Paul O'Neill-like. He was a life-long Republican-turned Independent. He was fairly harsh on all of the Bush's - 4 generations worth. He broke up his presentation into the three 'verticals' of the Bushs' influence - in order of increasing importance: 1) financial, 2) oil, 3) CIA/defense/military-industrial complex. He made a strong case that one or all of the Bushes were involved in all sorts of illicit activities, possible ties to Watergate, Bay of Pigs, Iran-Contra - you name it. Mentioned some stuff about how Yale was recruiting center for CIA - which would be why at least the last two Bushes went there - I don't remember about the others. The current president was born in Connecticut, apparently, but his folks moved to west Texas for oil-related schemes - as did many others from the Yale set. I was taken aback when he said that the evidence unearthed in the book was probably not enough to make a criminal case against any of the Bushes, and that most civil cases would be past their statute of limitations dates. That he would even link the words 'criminal' and 'Bush' was surprising to me - like I said, this guy is a Paul O'Neill type - very conservative looking and speaking. Also, Phillips essentially debunked the theory that one of the current President Bush's forefathers was a financier of the Nazis. There were real connections, Bush's bank was shut down in NYC, but no charges were filed, etc. Supposedly.





UPDATE: Found a CSPAN interview with Phillips here.

Event: 1/21, Politics and Prose, DC

Yep - this is a big one:

RON SUSKIND, discusses and signs copies of The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Wed., 1/21, at 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919.

UPDATE: There was probably 250 or so people there. Suskind (pronounced like mankind) was very lively, entertaining - not at all what I expected for some reason. He dropped a few bombshells which the crowd hadn't yet heard about, and by the time it was over I was really interested to know how that doofus Mr. Bush lets The White House run around him. So, I plopped down $27! Ouch! And, as usual at P&P, the store became a madhouse after the speaker stopped taking questions. It's literally standing room only in the entire upper floor of the bookstore - so people are trying to get in line for an autograph, they're trying to get in line to buy a book, and they're trying desperately to get out the dang door! Someone over at P&P, please - and this won't take a degree in Logistics - please figure out a way to improve the situation post-speaker. Get some of those rope-a-dope things that the airports use to torture their victims in wait - call the Department of Homeland Hilarity (not that you'll get through) - they'll probably be able to help you out.





P.S. Just re-found this freaky Cafe Mozart German Deli. It's like a convenience store, deli, bar, and restaurant. It's very odd, but eclectic, and they serve these gargantuan glasses of beer for like $10. Can't be all bad.

US sailors wear out sex workers

There's a war-related headline for ya. I don't know how I stumbled across this article, but in light of my previous posting on the 'rising demand for engineers in the U.S.', I thought it might be worthy to showcase an article that actually had a clear message and actual supporting data.

Perth prostitutes were reeling from exhaustion following an influx of United States sailors stressed from a stint in a war zone, a well-known madam said today.

It's hard not to get the message. Loud and clear.

I had the good fortune to visit Perth and Freemantle a few years ago, for just a couple of days, and while I didn't see any prostitutes, I did meet a U.S. sailor and some locals whose tales would seem to lend credence to the accounts of this article. Perth was a very nice town - very San Diego-esque from what I remember. Freemantle seemed like a nice beach town, but I only saw it at night - muchos bars, which makes sense, I guess. Sailors, bars, etc.

I stayed in a small town called Subiaco (soo-bee-ah-koh), or Subi, for short. I visited the most outrageous beach I've ever been to, at Cottesloe (pic). I heard about a shark attack at Cottesloe - and you often hear about shark attacks in Oz - but this one is scary. I remember taking a walk/jog through a couple of the local parks and seeing really weird-looking fauna, the biggest snake I've ever seen in my life, and some fairly outrageous views of the skyline and other scenic views. Ummm...why am I in DC?

Demand For Engineers Rising Fast In U.S.

Yep, this is an actual headline. Why do I sound surprised? Oh, maybe because so many IT people are either unemployed or underemployed these days. I guess my point is, what could possibly be the point of this article? Its text is as confusing as its headline. Some of these pseudo-industry/trade/lobby/gubment-type groups are so shady. Somewhere in the mix of this article's mixed messages is a theme that the U.S. must train high tech workers here, at home, in the U.S., and then keep them here, to work, to make stuff, and something or other. Here is one theme-type passage:

If the U.S. is to maintain its global leadership, it must ramp up its science, mathematics and engineering training, these groups say.

OK - global leadership sounds good to me, I guess. Here's another:

"Having a well-trained and well-equipped science and engineering work force is the basis for our economic well-being," he [Joseph Miller, CTO at Corning, Inc.] said.

Ummm....ok. I don't know - it's a rehash of everything we know about the high tech industry in the U.S. for the past several years. It's everything and nothing at the same time - and the title of the article? Demand For Engineers Rising Fast In U.S. OK, since the overall message of the article is FUBAR, let's just start with the one assertion made by this dubious title. Where is the evidence of 'demand rising'?

Also, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says demand for science and engineering workers will increase three times faster than all job categories this decade. Eighty-six percent of those jobs - 2.2 million - will be in the computer field.

OK - now we're getting somewhere. Let's just say we take this statistical fact at face value and move on. But, as soon as we're ready to give the benefit of the doubt to the author of this awful piece, we read this:

Yet unemployment in engineering occupations rose in the third quarter of 2003, say BLS data. The unemployment rate was 6.7%, up from 6.4% in the second quarter and five times higher than it was in 2000.

Hmmmmmm. Well, what's one data point? Besides, there must be a reason for this obviously-faulty data point:

For starters, the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) was wrong the last time it projected job demand for engineers. The BLS updates its job forecast every two years. The last time it made projections, "it was way off," said [George] McClure. "Their crystal ball isn't much better than the rest of ours."

Hmmmmmm. Way off. Crystal ball. Well, ok, whatever. Let's move on. We're not making much progress here. We don't know why the mis-prediction was mis-predicted, or how it was supposedly not mis-predicted this time. Nor do we know how other confusing tidbits of information strewn throughout the article - like the increasing fluidity of the high tech labor markets - might affect future mis-predictions. But, let's move on. I feel we're building a case for something here. Soon. I swear.

To be sure, these are still tough times in tech. Despite the recent increase in U.S. employment overall, the tech industry is still losing jobs - down 3.9% in November.

Doh! I'm trying to find a data point to support my article's title, damn it! All in all, a perfectly horrific article from the Investor's Business Daily. I'm fairly used to seeing the IT industry trade rags printing all sorts of rosy job forecast data to pimp the H1-B high tech worker/visa program, so this type of article is not surprising in its duplicity, but it is surprising in its inabilility to must a clear message. Is there an audience for this article? Who? Maybe it'll show up in someone's research report? Someone who used Lexis-Nexis to search all the titles of news articles in the past year for keywords 'demand, rising, engineers' so it can be thrown into some bogus research report for an IT lobby group? I don't know - sounds like a lot of effort to me.

Vice-President Dick Cheney, In His Charge (oops!)

C'mon - I know you heard it too. Was listening to Peter Jennings just before the SOTU address - he's giving the 411 on everyone as the camera slowly pans the room. When he gets to Cheney, sitting there, smirking the evil smirk, shining a bit from his evil dome, Jennings says:

Vice-president Dick Cheney, in his charge. (eh-hem) chair.

Can you say...Freudian slip? We all know Cheney's been in charge since day one. Niiice.

Bush Changing World for the Better?

Not according to our Aussie friends:

Liberal Radio Gaining Ground

I thought it was all hype, but apparently liberal radio just happened in Grand Rapids, Michigan - and by none-other than Clear Channel! The Thom Hartmann Show will air opposite Rush Limbaugh - Clear Channel apparently has two stations in Grand Rapids. You can find archives here.

Suicide Solution at Walter Reed Medical Center

It seems the Pentagon and White House are up to their old tricks - under-reporting of injuries, deaths, etc. But I'd like to concetrate on another aspect of the under-reporting - that is, I want to consider the possible reasons why soldiers are going crazy in the field and upon returning to the States. Among the many reasons, I would posit, are:

• Being lied to by George Bush and his cronies about the reasons we invaded Iraq in the first place. The mental anguish caused by being away from home and risking life and limb is tough enough, but add to that the anxiety of knowing that you were trying to serve your country - to be a true patriot - to make your country safer, but the real reason you were shipped across the Atlantic was to re-elect George Bush and to make Bush's friends and contributors extremely rich. You'd probably feel suckered, and there'd be nothing you could do about it. Not only that, but you'd probably begin to realize that you were actually making America less safe - at which point you'd begin to ask - why am I still here?


• Stop-loss orders unexpectedly smash a soldier's hopes of returning home Stateside, and then tell him that not only will he/she not be going home, but he will probably not being going home for the foreseeable future. The year 2030 is the date listed on soldiers' stop-loss papers. It's the military's way of saying 'whenever we are done in Iraqistan.'


• The highly volatile security situation in Iraqistan, knowing that you could be blown to bits at any second, must be mentally exhausting for soldiers - especially those stationed in the hot spots of the Sunni Triangle. Worse for some soldiers, they probably think about what it might be like living with no arms, or no legs, or some combination thereof. What if I get my face blown off?, they must wonder. Will my wife leave me?


• The sense of hopelessness that a soldier might feel, combined with the awful brutality that (s)he would be subjected to on a daily basis (bombings, gun violence, violent raids, yelling and screaming to and from non-English speakers, immense mental stress from no trying to kill innocents while still protecting yourself and your buddies, human bodies - sometimes of children - torn to pieces), would eventually lead a soldier to break down. He would probably have to do one of two things: 1) Hold onto his humanity and go crazy, or 2) Become the monster that war is teaching him to become. This latter option means, in effect, to stop feeling guilty for brutalizing and killing innocents, for not being there for your buddy, for not seeing that IED before he was splattered by it, for not being able to stop his bleeding enough to save his life long enough until the field med unit could take over. Forget it all - war is war - it's the only way to survive mentally. A recent article from UPI reminds us how stressful war can actually be:
  

A soldier who served in Iraq apparently hung himself with a bedsheet last week at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but the Pentagon did not count that death two days later when it announced "a very small increase" in the suicide rate from Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Of course, I figure the suicide rate might be somewhat reduced in that some soldiers don't have the ability to off themselves. It'd be tough to hang yourself with no arms. It's unbelievable to me that Bush and his cronies have so easily been able to hide the military suicides in Iraq. I mean, whatever numbers they're providing - double it to get a better estimate. All those 'non-hostile fire' incidents you keep hearing about? Well, some are self-inflicted, non-hostile incidents. Some are to the head - for those who are too far gone, and some to the abdomen area - for those who just want a ticket home. Problem is, shooting yourself even in the relatively-safe abdomen area can be fatal, as seems to have been the case for this soldier. Sad. When will these sadist Americans supporting this or any other war figure out that war is not a picnic and it should be used as a last resort? I don't get it...

YOU Think Spam Sucks?

How would you like to receive email telling you to prepare for your husband's homecoming? Oops - you found out last week that your husband was killed in Iraqistan? Sorry.

Piche (the new widow) said there are constant reminders about the homecomings. She was inadvertently sent an e-mail that went out to the spouses in her husband's unit. She e-mailed back, asking to be taken off the list.

Yeah, attention to detail for the whole dead-spouses-probably-won't-need-a-homecoming-party would probably be a good idea. I thought we got that with our gargantuan military budget, which is almost as much as the rest of the worlds' militaries combined - the rest of the worlds' militaries combined. Here's a brief snapshot - figures for some countries are a year or two are out of date - which means a lot to the U.S. - because W took office and the Repugnicans took control of all three branches - but not so much for other countries not fighting the never-ending global war on brown, non-Christian people - I mean terrorists:

Selected Countries
Military Budget
  ($Billions)
United States
399.1
Russia* 
65.0
China* 
47.0
Japan 
42.6
United Kingdom 
38.4
France 
29.5
Germany 
24.9
Saudi Arabia 
21.3
Italy 
19.4
India 
15.6
South Korea 
14.1
Brazil* 
10.7
Taiwan* 
10.7
Israel 
10.6
Spain 
8.4
Australia 
7.6
Canada 
7.6
Netherlands 
6.6
Turkey 
5.8
Mexico 
5.9
Kuwait* 
3.9
Ukraine 
5.0
Iran* 
4.8
Singapore 
4.8
Sweden 
4.5
Egypt* 
4.4
Norway 
3.8
Greece 
3.5
Poland 
3.5
Argentina* 
3.3
United Arab Emirates* 
3.1
Colombia* 
2.9
Belgium 
2.7
Pakistan* 
2.6
Denmark 
2.4
Vietnam 
2.4
North Korea* 
2.1
Czech Republic 
1.6
Iraq* 
1.4
Philippines 
1.4
Portugal 
1.3
Libya* 
1.2
Hungary 
1.1
Syria 
1.0
Cuba* 
0.8
Sudan* 
0.6
Yugoslavia 
0.7
Luxembourg 
0.2

I Did NOT Have Sexual Relations With That Turkey!

My blog can be kind of depressing, so have a laugh:

Australia Started Iraq War?

Interesting article from down unda today.

Just days after the Iraq war officially ended, The Age reported (May 10) that Australian troops had fought the first battles, killing and capturing Iraqi soldiers a day before US President George Bush declared the invasion had begun.

What's the big deal, you say? Well, Bush gave Sadaam and his sons 48 hours to get out of dodge. On hour 16 of those 48 hours, the Aussies attacked, killed, and captured Iraqi soldiers - of course, illegally, but to add insult to injury, the Aussies hadn't even declared war on Iraq yet. Nor had the Americans. Consider it a smaller version of Pearl Harbor. Shoot, even Osama bin Laden warned the U.S. that he would attack America and 'kill the infidels' and all that stuff. I guess the Aussies and Americans couldn't be bothered to return the favor.

So much for international law. I guess if you're illegally invading another country it doesn't make much sense to announce your intentions. I mean, crimes against humanity are what they are - just make sure you win!

Dean is a Psycho!

I checked out Drudge, who, of course, had big, funny pictures up of the crazy Dean, but this time he actually had a point. I don't know if this recording is authentic, but it sure seemed like it to me. At the end of this little clip, Dean seems crazy. I mean, Norman Bates-type crazy. Too funny!

Update:
I got a link to the video of the Dean rant from the Washington Post. It looks a lot better, that is, less psycho, than it sounds. Part of the reason the clip on Drudge seems psycho is because drudge cut off the very calm few seconds before Dean's buildup, and he cut off Dean's laughing IMMEDIATELY AFTER Dean yelled 'Yahhh!'. It was a big celebratory meeting, and the 'Yahhhhh!' was a cross, it seems, between a 'Yes!' and a 'Yehaw!'. So, still a bit scary, but with the video it's much better. He's literally laughing as he finished his 'Yahh!', so it's not a psycho-type thing. So, as he's been explaining on the talk shows this morning, he was just having a bit of fun. Scary, though.

Holy Naïveté, Batman!

I was doing a little Baghdad Burning and saw a couple of interesting things. The first is something I'd heard before, but hadn't paid it too much attention - it was just another piece of bad news coming out of Baghdad. Iraq Governing Council (IGC) was considering changing Iraq's governing laws from Family Law to Shari'a Law - the decision would become known as Decision or Decree 137, apparently. Shari'a Law, of course, is the semi-technical term for Islamic Law - the law of Muslim-dominated, non-secular counties, based on the Koran. Places implementing Shari'a Law are really good for women and human rights and freedom of expression and all that - places like Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, etc. Anyways, big protests from womens' rights groups and others seem to have prevented the Decree from passing this past Friday - that's good news.

Now, while this is a rather bizarre development to even have such a decree considered, given the Administration's highly altruistic intentions for the Iraq Oil & Re-election War, you might be inclined to dismiss it as 'politics as usual', maybe just a little pushback from the IGC on the CPA, a little friendly power-play, but that might make you a bit....naïve. This guy Mr. Sistani, apparently the most powerful non-American in Iraq these days, is continuing to gain stregth, it seems, and continuing to flex his muscles. Mass demonstrations of 100,000+ people in Baghdad and Basra have worried the Americans and the Brits. I actually knew about the mass protests, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw next. Check out the website - if you can call it a site - of the Iraq Governing Council here. Not too shabby, I guess, but c'mon folks - this is the twenty-first century - surely we can do a little better than that. I mean, that looks like something I would have done, oh, ten years ago? Now, oblige me, if you will, by checking out the website of one Mr. Sistani. Ohhhhh, so you did catch the whole sleek pictures, interactive forms, and FIVE LANGUAGES thing. Good. Wasn't sure if you were going to catch that. Well, it just goes to show that even a well-meaning liberal can completely underestimate a non-Westerner. Thus, the title of this post.

This guy Sistani is pimping his point of view in FIVE LANGUAGES! So, one theory has it that the IGC was considering 137 to appease Sistani. Sistani is calling for full elections which would mostly likely mean a Shia-dominated government, which of course would mean an Islamic state. Bush/Bremer/CPA/IGC is now calling on the UN to provide cover for some type of hoax of a 'full election' that the Jackals hope Sistani will buy hook, line, and sinker. Ummmm...methinks they are being a tad naïve. But that's just me. And it's not like the neocons or others responsible for this war could ever be accused of being naïve about their points of view, but Kurt Vonnegut just might disagree.

p.s. I found the Robin quote here.

GOP interfering in Dem primaries?

Just a question. I think they meant to at least slow down Dean, and they have, but this blowout in Iowa is ridiculous. On what basis did the voters of Iowa decide to vote for...Kerry? Edwards? Huh?

UPDATE: I haven't actually gone out and looked for evidence of this kind of interference, but I am very aware that it happens all the time - on both sides - sometimes it's very organized, sometimes not. But just ran across an interesting tidbit while tearing through some Salon.com articles. This one, about the Mary Matalin/James Carville, Republican/Democrat-type relationships, had this to say:

Hiram [a Democrat] quickly clarified that his wife's presence in the Gephardt camp doesn't mean that she'll be voting Democratic come November. Julianne, 57 and a real estate agent, is a staunch Republican, and has been throughout their 37-year marriage. " I guess they [the Republicans] want the weaker people to win the nomination so that they'll go up against the Republicans," said Hiram, with what sounded like a shrug.

So, question is, how many Republicans were in the Gephardt camp? And with that, how many Republicans and contributors are there in the Kerry camp? The Pretty-Boy camp?

UPDATE: I just ran across this link on a posting from bartcop. It's floating the theory that voter fraud, using electronic voting machines, which are not verifiable, played a part in the huge Iowa upset of Dean. I dunno...it was an awfully big upset. I'm inclined to believe that this was not a case of voter fraud, but I'm sure that we will see rampant electronic voter fraud in the general election - starting with the Pentagon's vote-stealing machinations.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Another Classic Clip

The Daily Show keeps outdoing itself. This clip has George Andrews of the UC-Davis College Republicans getting interviewed by a hilarious Steven Colbert in his best John Stossel-type overly-dramatic-newsguy role. The official name of the clip is Daily Show: Helms - Right Out Of The Closet -- Don't be ashamed! Say it -- you're conservative and proud!. Apparently, the UC Davis College Republicans (who have since taken down their site), decided to host a 'Conservative Coming Out Day' during Gay Pride Week. Well, I suppose that lack of sensitivity earned George his smackdown.

Now, there are three really bizarre things about this video. First, George is not white. I just don't know if I'll ever understand a non-white Republican (e.g. JC Watts), unless you hold a grudge against the racist Democrats of old. If that's your deal - hey, I'm not gonna hate. The next odd thing about the video is what George says in his first two statements during of interview:

I am a conservative...People are afraid to come out and say that they're conservative on this campus 'cause it's easy to beat up on people, like, that are rich and stuff like that.

See anything odd in that? What does being rich have to do with being a Republican? Does George feel discriminated against because he's rich? Does he feel that his richness excludes him from the Democratic party, or somehow locks him into the Republican party? Is class warfare the only thing this youngster knows of politics in America? The last thing that gets me about this article is that George, other than having a Republican philosophy, which, honestly, I just don't get at all - is that he seems like a nice, decent guy. I mean, yes, he was either ignorant or mean-spirited or both in choosing to hold a conservative coming out day during gay pride week, but if it was more ignorance than mean-ness, wouldn't that save him from the 'a-hole' moniker? Sure, it depends, but this kid is just odd!

UPDATE: Here is the full RealMedia file for those without streaming capability.