By WENDY MALLOY/TAMPA
Time.com April 19, 2006 Federal prosecutors are hailing Florida professor Sami Al-Arian's plea agreement as a victory in the war on terror. But as with so many triumphant government claims since 9/11, there's a lot less to celebrate than meets the eye.
When federal prosecutors earlier this week announced a plea deal that will ultimately deport the controversial former University of South Florida computer science professor Sami Al-Arian, they hailed it as a major achievement in the war on terror. As U.S. Attorney Paul Perez put it in a statement, "Because of the painstaking work of the prosecutors and agents who pursued this case, Al-Arian has now confessed to helping terrorists do their work from his base here in the United States - a base he is no longer able to maintain." But given all the buildup, the resolution of the Al-Arian case seems far from a clear-cut victory, and the government's triumphant tone speaks volumes about its less-than-stellar record in federal anti-terror cases. |
Wed Apr 19, 2006
By Deborah Charles Reuters ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - Noble and generous, family members of September 11 victims overcame anger, rage and a thirst for vengeance before testifying for the defense on Wednesday in a trial that will determine if Zacarias Moussaoui will be executed.
Moussaoui, an admitted al Qaeda member, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the airliner hijackings. The 12-person jury is hearing evidence before deciding whether he should be sentenced to death or get life in prison. More than 40 witnesses have already testified about their loved ones killed on September 11 when planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. But they were called to the stand by federal prosecutors who are trying to convince the jury that Moussaoui deserves death. Some were survivors who gave graphic descriptions of their struggle to escape the burning towers, while others were family members who spoke of the impact loved ones' violent deaths have had on their lives. The latest group of family members, however, were testifying as part of the evidence being presented by the defense, which is trying to convince the jury to spare Moussaoui's life. Comment: Note that one of the defendants is Marilynn Rosenthal. Mrs Rosenthal is currently writing a book which looks at the evidence for Bush and Co having advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. Note that Mrs Rosenthal stated that "Mr. Moussaoui is the wrong man to be ... on trial." Note that the Reuters report left out the full text of her comment. The full text was:
"Moussaoui is the wrong person to be on trial. There are people in the custody of the US government who were central planners." She has also stated that "9/11 could have been prevented"
Most Guantanamo detainees are small fry, experts say |
April 20, 2006
AFP Most of the 558 people named in a Pentagon list of inmates at the US base in Guantanamo, Cuba, are small fry, figures of little value in the international "war on terror", experts said on Thursday.
The names released on Thursday by the US Defence Department did not include a single senior figure from Al-Qaeda or other Islamic extremist groups, nor from Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, experts stressed. "It's nonsense. Guantanamo is a gigantic failure," charged the French analyst Olivier Roy, a leading specialist on central Asia. "Even setting aside the question of international law, these guys don't know anything. Even for those who do know a little, after four years what can their information be worth?" he asked. In an interview with the US weekly National Journal, Michael Scheuer, a former head of the CIA unit focused on Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, said the Guantanamo detainees appeared at best to be foot-soldiers. "They are going to know absolutely nothing about terrorism," he said, adding: "We absolutely got the wrong guys." |
Al-Jazeerah
4/21/2006 The debate over whether Iraq is on the verge of a bloody civil war was fueled by recent remarks by UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and his Saudi counterpart during a conference in Riyadh.
On BBC news website, Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College London explained the historical precedents and why the argument over a possible outbreak of a civil war in Iraq matters. He discussed what causes a civil war, referring to historical examples like, civil war in Russia, Lebanese civil war. Sir Lawrence Freedman suggested that once a broadly-based government is agreed, it might get a grip on the situation, and stop the almost daily sectarian killings and attacks in Iraq. In an editorial published on AIM.org, the media is seen as a key element in instigating a civil war in Iraq. Following the February 22 attack on one of the most revered Shia mosques in the Iraqi city of Samarra, all media reports were focusing on allegations that Iraq has swept up in a wave of retaliatory religious violence, and national news outlets in the U.S. continued for weeks to feed Americans with daily headlines, all affirming the bloody sectarian violence Iraq has fallen into. 90% of the main stream media was dedicated to painting a bleak image of the situation in Iraq, focusing on the between 90 and 200 Sunni mosques across Iraq that were attacked, burned or bombed. |
by Lynne Glasner
OpEdNews.com April 20, 2006 As Rumsfeld gets battered from the ranks for his errant decision-making in military matters, we cannot forget the systemic practice of torture that has occurred, and is still ongoing, under his watch. Whether or not Bush and/or Cheney were directly involved in the planning or authorization of this egregious crime, it is obvious that neither has any interest in stopping it. After the President reluctantly signed the McCain Amendment banning torture practices, he basically nullified it by issuing a "Signing Statement" that gives him permission to override the law at his discretion. There would be no need for such a statement if the practice had been ceased, as was claimed; the Signing Statement gives Bush and the Administration legal cover. The President's original invocation of the axis of evil is ironic considering the evil perpetrated by the three most powerful men in the world: Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.
|
By T. Christian Miller in Washington
SMH 04/20/06 A CONTRACTOR in Iraq has pleaded guilty to providing money, sex and designer watches to US officials in exchange for more than $US8 million ($10.8 million) in reconstruction contracts.
Philip Bloom faces up to 40 years in prison after admitting paying more than $US2 million in bribes to US officials with the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ruled Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003. Bloom's guilty plea on bribery and money-laundering charges is the latest development in a widening corruption scandal centred on a network of US civilians and military officials who worked out of a coalition outpost in the south-central Iraqi town of Hillah. |
Brian Harring
TBR News April 19, 2006 The personality of Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill could very well be a subject of interest to an alienist who, by definition, is a physician who treats mental disorders. There is a saying that the world is governed with very little sense and there are times when one could add to this statement that it often has been governed by lunatics.
Churchill was born in 1874 and died in 1965. His father was Randolph Spencer-Churchill, a son of the Duke of Marlborough. The first Duke was John Churchill, one of England's most capable military commanders, who died without male issue in 1722 and the title was given to one of his nephews, a Spencer. As a courtesy, the Spencer family was allowed to add Churchill to its name, separated by a hyphen. Winston always wanted to believe that he was a gifted military leader in the mold of the first Duke but his efforts at generalship were always unqualified disasters that he generally blamed on other people. This chronic refusal to accept responsibility for his own incompetent actions is one of Churchill's less endearing qualities. Randolph Churchill died early as the result of rampant syphilis that turned him from an interesting minor politician to a pathetic madman who had to be kept away from the public in the final years of his life. His mother was the former Jennie Jerome, an American. The Jerome family had seen better days when Jennie met Randolph. Her father, Leonard, was a stock-market manipulator who had lost his money and the marriage was more one of convenience than of affection. |
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