Chinese ship crew moon the US Navy - continued

According to The Telegraph, the soldiers mooned the Navy crew - now I'm not sure if they just dropped their pants or went all the way. As more information is made available, I'll keep you updated with this important piece of news.

In what a Pentagon official described as a "bizarre" incident, Chinese crew members on board one vessel bared their bottoms after the USNS Impeccable had sprayed them with hoses.

via Chinese ships 'harass' unarmed US navy vessel - Telegraph.

The Chinese have responded to the US allegations of harassment, saying it is the US that is harassing them by conducting illegal surveying in China's special economic zone, AND it suggests the U.S. "do more things beneficial to the stable development of China-U.S. relations. "
Reuters Article

I think the U.S should be careful if they don't want China to increase their interest rate.

In addition, here are some more details not shed some light on the matter:

The Impeccable did not carry large-caliber weapons and was operated by civilians for the Military Sealift Command, Pentagon officials said.

The surveillance mission, focused on undersea warfare, may be of particular interest to the Chinese military, which has invested heavily in a new fleet of diesel-powered attack submarines.

Pentagon officials say that while the diesel variety is not as potent as the Navy’s nuclear fast-attack submarines, the submarines are cheaper and can be purchased in greater numbers, giving the Chinese the potential to overwhelm American defenses at sea.

Address : <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/washington/10military.html?_r=2&ref=world>

Sexualized news and the "Ins And Outs" Of Shaving Your Pubes

Rupert Murdoch's Fox is reaching the bottle of the barrel, while at the same time Rupert, according to The Economist is "investing in a vigorous expansion of its political coverage and international news".

Anyway, according to The Huffington Post, Fox News' "sexpert" Yvonne K. Fulbright in a recent column described the "ins and outs" of shaving your pubes in this article which is well worth reading (The Huffington post one that is).

The Huffington Post: Fox News - The "Ins And Outs" Of Shaving Your Pubes

Even as Bill O'Reilly bemoans that "the moral and ethical climate in America is declining," and that the "Internet and an irresponsible media have hit traditional values hard," Fox News has become a premiere purveyor of sexualized news.

See also FoxNewsPorn

The Pentagon, not Metallica, The Master of Puppets

The New York times today reports that a Pentagon campaign using retired officers has been used to shape terrorism coverage from inside the TV and radio networks.

I note from the screen shots Rupert Murdoch's Fox features heavily.



The Pentagon information apparatus has used these analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.


Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.





Source: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand - New York Times

Address : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?hp

Boeing / Jeppesen involved in CIA torture taxi 'rendition' flights

Stumbled on to some news this morning about my former employer, Jeppesen ( A Boeing company). This appears to have popped up 6 months ago, but from posts found in google news, it still seems to be under active litigation.

Here are some snippets, click the links to see the rest.

Boeing unit subject of refiled CIA-flight suit

Bloomberg News, Chicago Tribune

A Boeing Co. unit falsified flight plans to disguise the Central Intelligence Agency's transporting of terrorism suspects to secret prisons overseas, the American Civil Liberties Union claims in an updated lawsuit.

Jeppesen Dataplan, a provider of navigation charts, refueling plans and route planning based in Englewood, Colo., helped in more than 70 flights to move suspects to countries where they were not protected by U.S. law, the group said. The prisoners were tortured and interrogated, the ACLU said Wednesday in the suit.

The organization first sued Jeppesen in May, representing three people it said were on the flights. It refiled the case to add two others. The ACLU, citing a Council of Europe report, said Jeppesen misled European officials on the flights' destinations.

"Jeppesen falsified flight plans submitted to European air traffic control authorities to avoid public scrutiny of CIA flights," according to the suit, which was filed in federal court in San Jose. "Jeppesen intentionally submitted 'dummy flights' to various aviation authorities in order to conceal the true flight paths of the rendition planes."

It is not unusual for aircraft operators to file multiple flight plans because final destinations have not been determined or to avoid bad weather, said John Dern, a spokesman for Chicago-based Boeing.

He said the company's services are confidential. "As a matter of policy we don't comment publicly on any of the work done or services for any of our customers without their consent," Dern said, declining to say whether the CIA is a Jeppesen customer.

The ACLU sued under a law allowing non-U.S. citizens to bring claims against the government for violating the law of other nations or an American treaty. ACLU lawyer Ann Brick was not available to comment.

Address : <http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14645>

AND

The ACLU charged that the U.S. government is improperly invoking the "state secrets" privilege to avoid judicial scrutiny of this unlawful policy.

Steven Watt, an attorney with the ACLU's Human Rights Program, told IPS, "Five men have been brutally abused with the help of a U.S. corporation, and they are entitled to their day in court." He added, "Jeppesen must not be given a free pass for its profitable participation in a torture program. And the government should not be allowed to use the national security defense as a way to cover up its mistakes or, worse, its egregious abuses of human rights."

The ACLU filing comes in a lawsuit brought on behalf of five victims of the rendition program who were kidnapped and secretly transferred by the CIA to U.S.-run overseas prisons or foreign intelligence agencies where they were interrogated and tortured.

According to the lawsuit, Jeppesen knowingly provided flight planning and essential logistical support to aircraft and crew used by the CIA for the clandestine rendition flights.

After the lawsuit was filed, the U.S. government intervened to seek its dismissal, contending that further litigation of the case would be harmful to national security. But the ACLU contends that the information needed to pursue this lawsuit, including details about the rendition program, is already in the public domain.

It adds that Jeppesen's involvement in the program is also a matter of public record. It has been confirmed by extensive documentary evidence and eyewitness testimony, including the sworn declaration of a former senior Jeppesen employee, which was submitted in support of the ACLU filing.
Address : <http://www.metimes.com/Security/2007/12/21/boeings_unfriendly_skies_and_cia_prisons/6494/>

AND

A former Jeppesen employee, Sean Belcher has entered an affidavit reporting that Jeppesen executive Bob Overby bragged, "We do all of the extraordinary rendition flights," further explaining to staff that he was speaking of "the torture flights," and that they paid very well
Address : <http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=1531>

And

Boeing's Unfriendly Skies
Address : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-fisher/boeings-unfriendly-skies_b_77875.html

Virginia Tech: Just get over it.

I can't stand hearing more about the Virginia Tech. Not because it upsets me, but because it seems so two-faced. People are asking "how could this happen?"

Easy: allow nutters easy access to weapons as is currently the case. If the bloke had has to make do with a knife or an axe, then we on the other side of the world would not be hearing about it.

Of course, if this massacre had taken place in Iraq at the hands of a USMC squad, it would have made the news because non-American lives don't matter.

More than 30 Americans are killed every day either by guns or cars. No one is upset if 30 people die in clumps of 1-3.

So, stop asking "why" and "how" - it is easy - psychos kill, and when they get their hands on weapons that can kill large clumps of people, they do.

Perhaps the deaths are just collateral damage for a ridiculous policy of allowing the public to arm themselves with weapons that should only be held by those in the armed forces?

Nothing in comparison to white phosphor bombs dropped on Iraqi cities or US cluster bombs dropped over a whole country.

Pathetically small number of people really to be hogging the news lime-light.

Cartoon from:
Cartoons - Cartoon - Opinion - smh.com.au:

US faking intelligence to justify attack on Iran?

While British PM Tony Blair is saying "no attack on Iran is being planned, and that a diplomatic solution to the West's row with Tehran over its nuclear plans is the only "viable and sensible" answer", Dick(head) Cheney is here in Australia saying that a Strike on Iran is an option.

"All options are still on the table,'' US vice president Dick Cheney told a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney today.

Interesting given that the Guardian is reporting that:

MUCH of the intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities provided to UN inspectors by American spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, according to diplomatic sources in Vienna.

The claims come as the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, prepare to draft a second sanctions resolution on Iran.

They are reminiscent of the intelligence fiasco surrounding the Iraq war and coincide with a sharp increase in international tension as the International Atomic Energy Agency reported yesterday that Iran was defying a Security Council ultimatum to freeze its nuclear program.

Source: US intelligence on Iran proves 'unfounded' - World - theage.com.au
Address : <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/02/23/1171734021636.html>

So, anyone for a war? It makes great TV and is good for US oil.

Technorati tags: Iran, U.S., Strike on Iran

Bush pledges Hicks to face rigged Kangaroo court as soon as possible

US President George Bush is pledging to do all he can to speed up David Hicks' trial, promising the Australian will be "first in line" to get his day in court. Mr Bush made the promise to Prime Minister John Howard during a telephone call this morning, in which he vowed to "do everything he could to make sure the process was pushed along". "He said that Hicks was the first in the line, and he understood very much the concerns that I had," Mr Howard said.

Source: Bush pledge to Howard over Hicks - National - theage.com.au

I think Johnno is missing the point. While it is more than a concern that DH has been in Guantanamo for over 5 years with out any charges, it is even WORSE that it is a US "special" military court. 

If Hicks were a US soldier facing a Court Martial, the case would have been dismissed according to US military legal folks. And, if Hicks were a US citizen, he would not be allowed to be tried by the court at Guantanamo because the US courts have ruled that the trials at Guantanamo are unconstitutional and deny basic legal rights and process.

So, if Johnno wants to impress us, he should be trying to STOP the trial and demanding that DH be return to Australia, not demanding he be tried ASAP in a court that even the US wouldn't let their people face.

Anyway, aside from that, the article goes on to say that our evil Justice overlord, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has raised the issue of how Hicks might feel if he was brought home before getting a chance to clear his name.

What a joke!  Hicks' US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, said: "David Hicks won't complain if they bring him home (and) he didn't get to clear his name."

When reminded that many in government had not always presumed Hicks innocent (news terrorist adds: The whole freaking Johnno Howard axis of evil), Mr Ruddock said that he, as principal law officer, always had. "I have never asserted guilt," he said.

Does anyone need proof that Philip Ruddock is really a closet Darth Vader cross-dresser? 

Technorati Tags: David Hicks - Guantanamo - John Howard - War on Terror

Hicks not suffering mentally - US Army Doctor

Last week David Hick's lawyer said that Hicks was in a bad way mentally after over a year over solitary confinement, and living in Hotel Guantanamo.

Yesterday, I read this:

United States authorities insist there's nothing to suggest David Hicks' mental health is suffering.

They turned down an Australian request to send in an independent psychologist and instead had their own doctors check on the psychiatric health of the Adelaide-born father of two, who's been locked up in Guantanamo Bay for five years.

The Guantanamo doctor gave Hicks a clean bill of health, indicating there was nothing to suggest the Australian terror suspect was suffering depression or anxiety.

What a load of Bull Shit. How obvious is it that they are hiding the truth? How can Johnno Howard and that foreign affairs prick be such suck-ups?



Anyway, the article went on to describe what senators were told in a parliamentary hearing earlier this week about Hicks' surroundings and daily routine in the US military prison in Cuba:

Last December he was moved to Camp Six, described this week as more humane by the US commander in charge at Guantanamo.

Hicks lives in a cell 3.6 by 2.3 metres that receives no direct sunlight, is climate controlled at 25 degrees Celsius and has glass observation panels for prison staff to check detainees aren't trying to commit suicide.

He sleeps on a double bunk bed, but has no roommate, and has a plastic table, a seat and bookshelf in his cell for reading and writing.

But the bookshelf is mostly empty. He has 52 books but is only allowed two in his cell at any one time.

Toilet paper is rationed - he's allowed 30 sheets at a time - because others at Guantanamo have used it to block the toilets and cause flooding.

The Americans describe it as a security issue.

Hicks is kept in his cell for 22-hour stretches. For two hours a day - which can be at any time of the day or night - he is allowed into the exercise yard.

But, for whatever reason, he was refused the privilege 21 times last month, meaning he was in his cell for 24 hours.

AAP

Hicks' health ok, says US doctor - World - smh.com.au

GUANTANAMO Bay is a lawless prison: Hicks Lawyer

I saw Major Mori on tv a night a go and he had some interesting things to say about the conditions Hicks is currently being held in, and about the trial, Guantanamo Bay etc.

He is being kept in solitary confinement, in a metal room with no windows, for 22 hours a day. He has been held in these conditions for over a year.

Just read this in The Age:

GUANTANAMO Bay is a lawless prison run by the CIA and US interrogators using CIA techniques of subjugation and degradation, David Hicks' Adelaide lawyer said yesterday on his return from Cuba.

David McLeod, a conservative military lawyer and decorated army legal reservist, said he was "shirt-fronted" by the US military last week because he talked to the media about the conditions in which Hicks was held.

"I was subjected to a rather aggressive interrogation by one of the officials there for talking to the media in the way that I have," he said. "This is the standard approach, this is what happens when a lawless place like Guantanamo Bay is subject to scrutiny."

Mr McLeod would not reveal details of the interrogation but said Guantanamo Bay was a lawless place that sought to avoid public scrutiny.

...

Mr McLeod spoke emotionally of having to leave Hicks behind.

The move by the US military prosecution to announce charges against Hicks the day after his legal team left was an act of "bastardry". "I think he would be absolutely devastated by the fact that occurred in the absence of his legal team that had been there talking to him for four days," Mr McLeod said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister John Howard has defended the determination of the US authorities to charge Hicks with attempted murder.

Click for Full Age Article

Rumsfeld Under Fire: War Crimes Suit Filed

One of the biggest pricks in America is in more hot water (after resigning last week)

According to German paper Der Spiegel, a coalition of human rights groups has filed a criminal lawsuit against the former US Secretary of Defense.

The coalition, led by the New York-based civil rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), filed a criminal complaint against Rumsfeld on Tuesday at the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The coalition also feel they have more chance of success this time with new evidence, such as documents from the 2005 Congressional hearings on the al-Qahtani case.

Rumsfeld's resignation last week may also mean that prosecutors are under less political pressure to shun the case, the activists feel. His resignation also means he can no longer try to claim immunity as a sovereign official from international prosecution for war crimes.

CCR and its partner organizations filed a similar complaint in 2004, but it was dropped. They claim the US pressured Germany to drop the case, which was dismissed in February 2005 on the eve of a visit by Rumsfeld to Germany. At the time, then-federal prosecutor Kay Nehm said that there were no indications that the US authorities would "refrain from penal measures" regarding the violations described in the complaint. The activists believe that Nehm's successor, Monika Harms, who took office earlier this year, may be more amenable to their cause.

Former Commander of Abu Ghraib to testify

The coalition have an ace up their sleeve: Janis Karpinski, the former commander of Abu Ghraib, will appear as a witness on their behalf.

"Janis Karpinski is the witness," commented Kaleck. "The plaintiffs can and should testify (about) what happened to them, but on the other hand they cannot testify who ordered and enforced the interrogation methods, and who conducted them. You must have someone from the apparatus, and this is Janis Karpinski."

Karpinski , who resigned from the army in July 2005, wants to shed light on the incidents that ended her army career. "I served for 28 years," Karpinski told the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel. "I was entirely committed to the army. Then they make me into a scapegoat."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,druck-448320,00.html

Hicks abandoned by Australia and tortured by America

Amnesty International has accused the Australian government of abandoning terror suspect David Hicks and doing nothing to ensure sure he gets a fair trial.

Amnesty secretary general Irene Khan last week wrote an open letter to Prime Minister John Howard as part of its campaign to have Hicks released from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where he has been held for five years.

Symbol of injustice

Ms Khan said Amnesty was concentrating on the Hicks' case because it had become a symbol of injustice and the impunity which the US military prison had come to represent.

"We are picking him because he has been now in Guantanamo for almost five years without being tried. He's not likely to get a fair trial in the US, which has just adopted a new law."

Ms Khan accused the Australian government of behaving outrageously in the Hicks' case. "They have basically abandoned him. They have not taken any effort to ensure that he gets a fair trial," she said. "They approved trial by military commission, which the US Supreme Court has said violates American law as well as international law.

"So he should come home, he should get justice here in Australia. Give him a fair go at Australian justice."

'Depressed and disorientated'

US military lawyer Major Michael Mori says Hicks is depressed and disorientated after being left in solitary confinement in Guantanamo Bay for seven months with the lights on 24 hours a day.

Major Mori confirmed his client has been confined to the one concrete room for about 22 hours of every day for the last seven months.

The military lawyer is in Australia to seek a meeting with Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and to conduct a cross-party briefing of federal MPs.

He also suggested Hicks had been subject to sleep deprivation, an action defined as coercion rather than torture by Mr Ruddock.

"There was no valid reason given why he was placed in solitary."

Asked if Hicks was close to breaking, Mori said he hoped the former jackaroo was not.

"We're doing everything we can. We try to get down there as quickly as possible and try to get books through for him, but it does take some time."

But the reality, Major Mori said, was that Hicks was in a terrible mental state.

"I went down and spent my birthday with him at the beginning of October," Major Mori said.

"I see the changes in him, a sense of depression (and) I think that's what they're probably shooting for: they want to break him, they don't want him to resist."

Major Mori said a possible explanation for the solitary confinement could be that Hicks had complained. "The day before he was put in solitary, he met with Australian
consular (officials) and complained, things that were happening to him and also what he had seen. The next day, he was put in solitary confinement."

Hicks, Major Mori said, was now refusing to meet with consular officials.

"They (guards at Guantanamo Bay) have trained him that if he doesn't talk, if he doesn't complain then he doesn't get punished."

Source SBS / AAP

See also:
Minister's doubts over Guantanamo :

Hicks in solitary seven months - Mori | | The Australian

Time to bring Hicks home, Joyce says - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

Govt coy on sleep deprivation tactics - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

Sleep deprivation 'sometimes' torture | NEWS.com.au

Venezuela president plus Noam Chomsky book - sales jump on Amazon

Care of The Guardian: Chávez boosts Chomsky sales

Hugo Chávez holds a copy of Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival at the UN. Photograph: Julie Jacobson/AP

If he ever tires of running Venezuela, Hugo Chávez would make an outstanding book club president, judging by his impact on Noam Chomsky's book sales.Since waving a copy during an address to the UN last week, the Venezuelan president has made Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance a publishing sensation.

What was one of Professor Chomsky's lesser known works has surged to No 1 on Amazon's bestseller list, with bookshops making bulk orders from the thousands of extra copies being printed.

.............

Mr Chávez, who blames the US for backing a coup which briefly ousted him in 2002, used his UN address to brand George Bush a "devil" who had left a whiff of sulphur lingering in the chamber. Later he told an audience, to laughter, that his favourite tome was tainted by being placed on the podium where the US leader had stood. "I had to sprinkle it with holy water."

( See Guardian story link above for full story and related links)