Category: long story short

For the first time in 39 days on Friday I wasn’t the bottleneck in the editorial and production flow of my book. Today I had a day off on a weekend for the first time in months. I almost wasn’t sure it was real: the feeling of being able to do nothing, lie in the…

Aide Says President Set Guidelines for Interrogations, Not Specific Techniques, Washington Post, June 9, 2004 McClellan called the memo a historic or scholarly review of laws and conventions concerning torture. “The memo was not prepared to provide advice on specific methods or techniques,” he said. “It was analytical.” OK. Let’s analyze. These are excerpts from…

“The March 6 document about torture provides tightly constructed definitions of torture. For example, if an interrogator ‘knows that severe pain will result from his actions, if causing such harm is not his objective, he lacks the requisite specific intent even though the defendant did not act in good faith,’ the report said. ‘Instead, a…

“Ashcroft said it was not the Justice Department’s policy to define torture. “But he did say the international rules governing treatment of detainees did not apply to groups like al Qaeda since only countries are signatories to the treaty.” (Article) And are they similarly not bound to avoid torturing Americans?

FliG blows the lid of Kerry’s next big scandal, here.

From AARP Bulletin. … Trent Lott of Mississippi, announced he would stop voting against allowing Americans to buy lower-cost prescription drugs from abroad. “I cannot explain to my mother any longer,” he said, “why she should pay twice or two-thirds more than what is paid in Canada or Mexico.” Hmm… .twice or two-thirds more? She…

“Under the earliest prewar plans by the U.S. military, Baghdad’s infrastructure was to be rebuilt by last August, with elections to be held last September and the troops leaving by October.” Toronto Globe and Mail

Article 17 of the Third Convention says, in part, that “No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or…

The problem isn’t what we’re seeing. The problem is that we have eyes. (hat tip to jfern on dailykos for pointing this story out.)

File under the Republicans coming apart at the seams or “at long last, have you no decency?”: AP Wire | 05/19/2004 | Hastert Lectures McCain on War, Sacrifice

kwazy wabbit sings the face-to-face blooz

In the eighth circle of a deadline hell of my own making, for the last time I say to myself for the last time I say this is the last time, this time, this is the last time, this time is the time, this time is the last time, this time is the last time,…

ABC, CNN, MSNBC news sites all lead with the assassination of the head of the Iraqi Governing Council. Their headlines read…. abnews.com: “Shocking Loss.” msnbc.com: “Major Iraq Setback.” cnn.com: “Iraqi Governing Council Chief Sworn in After Killing.” Meanwhile over on foxnews.com the headline trumpets: “Chemical Agents Found in Iraq.” In the immortal words of Stan…

“A strong populace needs a strong leader. When I make a decision, I stick to it!” -Clench, The Steady–Lemming King, rallying his followers in the race to the cliff-edge.

–“The No. 2 general at the Pentagon indicated that interrogation techniques used in Iraq violated the Geneva Conventions and said he did not know who had approved them. “Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was unaware of any U.S. military guidelines for interrogating prisoners that would have…

Here’s an odd coincidence — so Saturday, I post “This was the week Bush lost the election” and even at the time I’m thinking, OK, sure, this is how it feels, but really, this post is a touch overboard. I mean, 6 months out? Clinton was losing to Bush senior like 3 months out. Dukakis…

Fact of the day, worth mulling and sharing: according to this article in the Chron, we’ve spent 3 dollars on Iraq to every dollar spent on homeland security. Not might spend. Or will spend. Or could spend. Spent. Done did. Insane. Some folks are getting frustrated that Kerry’s not doing much of late. I’m one…

Over the last couple of years, Fareed Zakaria’s analysis has been unrelentingly sharp, honest, and more often than not, borne out by the events that follow. I still can’t believe he writes for Newsweek. Anyways, The Price of Arrogance sums up the moment better than just about anything else I’ve seen this week. Highly recommended.

At first, we went to Iraq to get the WMD. Then there were no WMD. Then we retroactively went to Iraq to free the Iraqis and be the liberators. It was a just war. This is the week the war officially became something to be sad and ashamed about for a much larger pool of…

I would guess that for the prison officials, the risks authorizing a prisoner’s release were considerable, while the potential rewards were scant. If someone you released turned up later attacking US forces, it might, in effect, end your career. But even bureaucratically, if the records are missing, or they are vague about the reason for…

The posting I made under the heading “Three Strikes?” cited this report from a Reuters dispatch: “An official said a soldier was convicted in the U.S. military justice system of killing a prisoner by hitting him with a rock, and was reduced in rank to private and thrown out of the service but did not…