contributions

Gandhi allies send shares diving http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1217304,00.html
Randeep Ramesh in Delhi
Sonia Gandhi looked almost certain to become the first foreign-born leader of modern India last night after winning the support of the country’s communist parties.
But celebrations were overshadowed by steep falls on the country’s stock market as concerns grew about the pivotal role of the left.
Italian-born Mrs Gandhi is likely to confirm that she will become prime (…)

The Painful Lessons of Abu Ghraib
by Anthony Kaufman
Raging against the Republican machine
http://villagevoice.com/issues/0419/kaufman.php
Richard Clark, Jon Stewart, and Air America are about to get some company in the media assault on George W. Bush. >From Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911, an incendiary attack on U.S. foreign policy and the Bush-bin Laden connection (premiering in Cannes this week and, as of press time, blocked for release by Disney), to the moveon.org-co-produced (…)

[For the article critiqued below, see the message, ’Harsh C.I.A. Methods Cited’]
’Harsh Methods’ Aren’t Torture, Says the New York Times
The New York Times, revealing the interrogation techniques the CIA is using against Al-Qaeda suspects, seemed unable to find a source who would call torture by its proper name.
The May 13 article, headlined "Harsh CIA Methods Cited in Top Qaeda Interrogation," described "coercive interrogation methods" endorsed by the CIA and the Justice Department, (…)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3566058&thesection=news&thesubsection=world
By ANDREW BUNCOMBE and KIM SENGUPTA
WASHINGTON - Almost 10,000 prisoners from President George W. Bush’s so-called war on terror are being held around the world in secretive American-run jails and interrogation centres similar to the notorious Abu Ghraib Prison.
Some of these detention centres are so sensitive that even the most senior members of the United States Congress have no (…)

http://www.gwu.edu/ nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB122/index.htm#hre
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 122
Cold War U.S. Interrogation Manuals Counseled "Coercive Techniques" Cheney Informed of "Objectionable" Interrogation Guides in 1992 "Inconsistent with U.S. Government Policy" National Security Archive Posts CIA Training Manuals from 60s, 80s, and Investigative memos on earlier controversy on human rights abuses
For Further Information: Thomas Blanton 202 994-7000 Peter (…)

By JAMES RISEN, DAVID JOHNSTON and NEIL A. LEWIS
ASHINGTON, May 12 — The Central Intelligence Agency has used coercive interrogation methods against a select group of high-level leaders and operatives of Al Qaeda that have produced growing concerns inside the agency about abuses, according to current and former counterterrorism officials.
At least one agency employee has been disciplined for threatening a detainee with a gun during questioning, they said.
In the case of Khalid Shaikh (…)

By David Bamford BBC,London Five-hundred Iraqis from across the political spectrum have been taking part in a Baghdad conference to discuss opposition to the US-led occupation. The organisers, calling themselves the United Iraqi Scholars Group, say the aim of their five-hour meeting was to work out a common platform on how to end the occupation. If the people of Iraq, and the Arab world beyond, were hoping that the US-led invasion of Iraq and the collapse of its authoritarian Baathist (…)

New York Times
May 8, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/08/national/08PRIS.html?pagewanted=print&position=
By FOX BUTTERFIELD Physical and sexual abuse of prisoners, similar to what has been uncovered in Iraq, takes place in American prisons with little public knowledge or concern, according to corrections officials, inmates and human rights advocates. In Pennsylvania and some other states, inmates are routinely stripped in front of other inmates before being moved to a new (…)

by Mark Engler
While it has been over a week since the scandal concerning abuses of Iraqi prisoners erupted, our country is only beginning to reckon with the issue of torture. By now, most Americans have seen at least some of the horrific photos from Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. We know that more are yet to come.
In his testimony before Congress, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned that the government holds pictures and video of a "sadistic, cruel and inhuman" nature. Senator (…)

The Quiet American (Not)
We as a People must ACT to ensure Truth, Justice and Liberty for ALL, NOT just repeat it as a re-assuring mantra.
If we truly are a Great People, a Great Democracy, a protector of Human Rights and dignity, a Beacon of light atop the Hill, how is it we have allowed these crimes recently and into the past at least since 1944...?
Many ask why so many in the Middle East and to a lesser degree the rest of the World, incuding our allies, Hate us ?
I would suggest (…)