Attorneys for former post-9-11 detainees at New York’s federal Metropolitan Detention Center call it "Brooklyn’s Abu Ghraib." The detainees—none of whom were ever charged with anything related to terrorism—say in sworn affidavits and interviews with Justice Department officials that correction… Read moreBrooklyn’s Abu Ghraib
Up to 400 are reported dead in an earthquake which struck near the city of Zarand in Kerman province of southeastern Iran. (RFE/RL, Reuters, Feb. 22) A December 2003 earthquake at the city of Bam, also in Zarand, killed some… Read moreIran: 400 dead in earthquake
Bad news for freedom of speech on opposite sides of the planet. The presidents of both Kygyzstan and Venezuela seem to have gone litigation-happy against opposition figures. Most recently, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev announced he will sue the opposition newspaper… Read moreKyrgyz, Venezuelan presidents silence opposition
“Peak oil” theorists will be vindicated by a Feb. 20 report on al-Jazeera that Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil producer, has past its peak of production and may have in fact damaged its own extractable reserves through over-production. Writes al-Jazeera: As… Read moreSaudi Arabia at “peak oil”?
Speaking at an anti-war event in Olympia, WA, former Iraq weapons inspector Scott Ritter claimed that President Bush has already signed off on plans to start bombing Iran in June, ostensibly to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. If we live… Read moreScott Ritter: Iran attack planned for June
With Lebanon possibly next in the US crosshairs following the Valentine’s Day car-bomb assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, the Hezbollah militia movement marked the Shi’ite holy day of Ashura with a massive rally in Beirut. Amid requisite chants… Read moreHezbollah next US target?
Writes Israeli left-wing commentator Uri Avnery in a Feb. 19 piece for Media Monitors Network, "Beware of the Dog!": It is not very flattering to be paraded like a Rottweiler on a leash, whose master threatens to let him loose… Read moreIsraeli air-strikes on Iran planned?
In an uncharacterstically strong and principled lead editorial Feb. 19, the NY Times says its "Time for an Accounting" on Abu Ghraib and the administration’s policy on torture and detainment generally. Maybe, finally, a sign that elite consciences are beginning… Read moreNYT: “Time for an Accounting” on torture, detainment
The NY Times’ Feb. 18 front-page profile of John Negroponte, Bush’s appointment as Director of National Intelligence, did at least mention—albeit towards the end, at the bottom of page 16—"allegations that he played down human rights violations in Honduras when… Read moreNegroponte and the death-squad connection
The American Civil Liberties Union has called for creation of an independent special counsel to investigate "torture policies" following the Senate’s confirmation Feb. 15 of Michael Chertoff as Homeland Security Secretary. (ACLU, Feb. 15) Chertoff headed the Justice Department’s criminal… Read moreACLU protests Chertoff confirmation
More horrific claims of rights violations in Uncle Sam’s military prison camps in Iraq and Afghanistan—including threatening detainees who dared to complain of beatings and torture. One Iraqi detainee who was apparently beaten and injured was forced to drop his… Read moreACLU: more torture in US prison camps
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has called for a "coordinated effort" to pass a federal shield law protecting journalists from revealing confidential sources in the wake of the unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S…. Read moreJail for journalists in Plame case?
