Tag: Docudharma Times

 CIA Used Gun, Drill in Interrogation

IG Report Describes Tactics Against Alleged Cole Mastermind

By Joby Warrick and R. Jeffrey Smith

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, August 22, 2009

CIA interrogators used a handgun and an electric drill to try to frighten a captured al-Qaeda commander into giving up information, according to a long-concealed agency report due to be made public next week, former and current U.S. officials who have read the document said Friday.

The tactics — which one official described Friday as a threatened execution — were used on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, according to the CIA’s inspector general’s report on the agency’s interrogation program. Nashiri, who was captured in November 2002 and held for four years in one of the CIA’s “black site” prisons, ultimately became one of three al-Qaeda chieftains subjected to a form of simulated drowning known as waterboarding.

At home with the Lockerbie bomber

 From Times Online

August 21, 2009

Martin Fletcher in Tripoli  

Is he the evil perpetrator of the deadliest terrorist attack in British history, or a sick old man, a loving father and grandfather, who has suffered a terrible miscarriage of justice? Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi put on a virtuoso performance when The Times came calling yesterday.

His house, in the Dimachk area of Tripoli, was not hard to find. Policemen stood guard outside. The road was lined with the BMWs of smartly dressed friends and relatives who had come to pay their respects. The high outer walls were festooned with fairy lights and with pictures of the Lockerbie bomber as he looked when he left Libya more than a decade ago. In the garden stood a marquee where he had evidently been welcomed home the previous night.

We sent in our business cards and waited, more in hope than expectation.

C.I.A. Said to Use Outsiders to Put Bombs on Drones  



By JAMES RISEN and MARK MAZZETTI

Published: August 20, 2009



WASHINGTON – From a secret division at its North Carolina headquarters, the company formerly known as Blackwater has assumed a role in Washington’s most important counterterrorism program: the use of remotely piloted drones to kill Al Qaeda’s leaders, according to government officials and current and former employees.

The division’s operations are carried out at hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company’s contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft, work previously performed by employees of the Central Intelligence Agency. They also provide security at the covert bases, the officials said.

Robert Fisk: Democracy will not bring freedom

 

 Friday, 21 August 2009

So they voted. But for what? Democracy? Certainly not “Jeffersonian” democracy, as President Obama reminded us. Yes, the Afghans wanted to vote. They showed great courage in the face of the Taliban’s threats. But there’s a problem.

It’s not just the stitched-up Karzai administration that will almost certainly return, nor the war criminals he employs (Abdul Rashid Dostum should be in the dock at The Hague for war crimes, not in Kabul), nor the corruption and the hideous human rights abuses, but the unassailable fact that ethnically-divided societies vote on ethnic lines.

C.I.A. Said to Use Outsiders to Put Bombs on Drones  



By JAMES RISEN and MARK MAZZETTI

Published: August 20, 2009



WASHINGTON – From a secret division at its North Carolina headquarters, the company formerly known as Blackwater has assumed a role in Washington’s most important counterterrorism program: the use of remotely piloted drones to kill Al Qaeda’s leaders, according to government officials and current and former employees.

The division’s operations are carried out at hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company’s contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft, work previously performed by employees of the Central Intelligence Agency. They also provide security at the covert bases, the officials said.

Robert Fisk: Democracy will not bring freedom

 

 Friday, 21 August 2009

So they voted. But for what? Democracy? Certainly not “Jeffersonian” democracy, as President Obama reminded us. Yes, the Afghans wanted to vote. They showed great courage in the face of the Taliban’s threats. But there’s a problem.

It’s not just the stitched-up Karzai administration that will almost certainly return, nor the war criminals he employs (Abdul Rashid Dostum should be in the dock at The Hague for war crimes, not in Kabul), nor the corruption and the hideous human rights abuses, but the unassailable fact that ethnically-divided societies vote on ethnic lines.

 Public Option Called Essential

Democratic Lawmakers Express Concern

 By Anne E. Kornblut and Perry Bacon Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writers

Tuesday, August 18, 2009  

Several leading Democrats voiced concern Monday about an apparent White House shift on health-care reform, objecting to signals from senior administration officials that they would abandon the idea of a government-run insurance plan if it lacked the backing to pass Congress. In the Senate, where negotiations are now focused,  John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.) said that a public option, as the plan has become known, is “a must.”  Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.) said that “without a public option, I don’t see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good health care a privilege for those who can afford it.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said that the plan will be included in whatever bill is voted on in the House. “There is strong support in the House for a public option,” she said, though she did not demand that the administration express support for the idea.

Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung dies

The longtime dissident, who survived three assassination attempts and spent years in prison, was 85. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for engaging North Korea.

  By Barbara Demick August 18, 2009



Kim Dae-jung, a former dissident who survived three assassination attempts, one death sentence and six years in prison to become South Korea’s president and its first Nobel laureate, died today in Seoul after a long bout of pneumonia.

He was 85.

South Korea’s president from 1998 to 2003, Kim is best known for the moment on June 13, 2000, when he stepped onto the tarmac at Pyongyang’s airport with arms outstretched to embrace North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

That landmark meeting, which was supposed to end 50 years of enmity between the Koreas, won Kim the Nobel Peace Prize.

‘Public Option’ in Health Plan May Be Dropped  



 By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Published: August 16, 2009

PHOENIX – The White House, facing increasing skepticism over President Obama’s call for a public insurance plan to compete with the private sector, signaled Sunday that it was willing to compromise and would consider a proposal for a nonprofit health cooperative being developed in the Senate.

The “public option,” a new government insurance program akin to Medicare, has been a central component of Mr. Obama’s agenda for overhauling the health care system, but it has also emerged as a flashpoint for anger and opposition. Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, said the public option was “not the essential element” for reform and raised the idea of the co-op during an interview on CNN.

Ripples of Dispute Surround Tiny Island in East Africa



 By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Published: August 16, 2009

MIGINGO ISLAND, Lake Victoria – This little island doesn’t look like much.

It’s a slab of rock, not even an acre big, packed with rusty metal shacks, heaps of garbage, glassy-eyed fishermen and squads of prostitutes, essentially a microslum bathing in the middle of Africa’s greatest lake.

But baby Migingo is creating a huge fuss. The island happens to lie right along the disputed watery border between Kenya and Uganda, and politicians have even threatened to go to war over it.

The reason?

Fish. Lots of them, but maybe not enough. The island is an angler’s paradise, surrounded by schools of tasty – and exportable – Nile perch.

 Loose Network of Activists Drives Reform Opposition



By Dan Eggen and Philip Rucker

Washington Post Staff Writers

Sunday, August 16, 2009  

The rowdy protests that threaten President Obama’s health-care reform efforts have been spurred on by a loose network of activists — from veteran advocacy groups with millions of dollars in funding to casual alliances of like-minded conservatives unhappy over issues from taxes to deficits to environmental laws.

Most of the groups helping to organize protests view the proposed health-care overhaul as just one part of a broader assault by government on free markets and individual liberty, their leaders say. Conservatives portray the movement as largely organic, fueled by average citizens alarmed at the direction the country has taken since Obama moved into the White House.

Doctored Data Cast Doubt on Argentina

Economists Dispute Inflation Numbers

By Juan Forero

Washington Post Foreign Service

Sunday, August 16, 2009

BUENOS AIRES — Workers at the government’s National Institute of Statistics call it crass manipulation: Their agency, under pressure from above, altered socioeconomic data to reflect numbers palatable to the presidency. Inflation and poverty miraculously dropped, they said in interviews, and the economy boomed.

At least officially.

“They just erased the real numbers,” said Luciano Belforte, an 18-year veteran at the institute. “Reality did not matter.”

‘Public Option’ in Health Plan May Be Dropped  



 By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Published: August 16, 2009

PHOENIX – The White House, facing increasing skepticism over President Obama’s call for a public insurance plan to compete with the private sector, signaled Sunday that it was willing to compromise and would consider a proposal for a nonprofit health cooperative being developed in the Senate.

The “public option,” a new government insurance program akin to Medicare, has been a central component of Mr. Obama’s agenda for overhauling the health care system, but it has also emerged as a flashpoint for anger and opposition. Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, said the public option was “not the essential element” for reform and raised the idea of the co-op during an interview on CNN.

Ripples of Dispute Surround Tiny Island in East Africa



 By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Published: August 16, 2009

MIGINGO ISLAND, Lake Victoria – This little island doesn’t look like much.

It’s a slab of rock, not even an acre big, packed with rusty metal shacks, heaps of garbage, glassy-eyed fishermen and squads of prostitutes, essentially a microslum bathing in the middle of Africa’s greatest lake.

But baby Migingo is creating a huge fuss. The island happens to lie right along the disputed watery border between Kenya and Uganda, and politicians have even threatened to go to war over it.

The reason?

Fish. Lots of them, but maybe not enough. The island is an angler’s paradise, surrounded by schools of tasty – and exportable – Nile perch.

Calif. wildfires force residents to evacuate  

State of emergency declared for Santa Cruz County

Associated Press

DAVENPORT, Calif. – Fire crews fanned out Friday across a parched California where wind-whipped wildfires have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes and led to an emergency declaration in Santa Cruz County.

In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Lockheed Fire has blackened 6.5 square miles of remote wilderness and prompted mandatory evacuations of the mountain communities of Swanton and Bonny Doon, which have about 2,400 residents and several wineries.

Inside the Taliban: ‘The more troops they send, the more targets we have’

In the first of a series of exclusive reports in the run-up to next week’s Afghan elections, award-winning correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad meets a group of Taliban in their mountain stronghold

In the first of a series of exclusive reports in the run-up to next week’s Afghan elections, award-winning correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad meets a group of Taliban in their mountain stronghold

The Guardian, Saturday 15 August 2009

The provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika in south-eastern Afghanistan are dominated by one name: Jalaluddin Haqqani. A famous commander, tribal chief and cleric, Haqqani came to prominence during the war against the Soviets. In more than 20 years of fighting, he built an extensive network of influence that covered eastern Afghanistan and the tribal area of Waziristan in Pakistan, and reached as far abroad as the Gulf states, which he visited often.

Once a minister in the Taliban government, he is now aligned with their leader, Mullah Omar, but has retained independence and control over his men. His operations have struck deep into the territory controlled by Hamid Karzai’s government, reaching targets in Kabul. The movement’s signature attack is well co-ordinated and includes several suicide bombers, who storm into buildings before detonating their bombs.

White House deal with drug firms draws flak  

An $80-billion pact with the pharmaceutical industry intended to advance the administration’s healthcare reform goals has instead created confusion and discord.

 By Tom Hamburger

August 14, 2009



Reporting from Washington – An $80-billion deal with the drug industry that the White House thought would add momentum to its campaign for national healthcare reform has instead provoked a political tempest, frustrating and bewildering some of the president’s most important allies.

As complaints rolled in, the administration offered varying, sometimes contradictory explanations of the deal.

“I’ve heard a lot of confusion about what was agreed to,” said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who wrote healthcare legislation that would impose more cost on the industry than that contained in the White House agreement.

North Korea frees South Korean worker after Hyundai official’s visit

The chairwoman of Hyundai Group went to Pyongyang to seek the man’s release after President Clinton’s successful trip gained the freedom of two American TV reporters.

By Ju-min Park and John M. Glionna

August 14, 2009



Reporting from Seoul – A 44-year-old South Korean worker held in North Korea since March was released Thursday during a visit to Pyongyang by a prominent South Korean corporate leader, authorities said.

The release came a week after former President Clinton traveled to the North Korean capital and secured pardons for two American television reporters who had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering the country.

Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun of Hyundai Group flew to Pyongyang on Monday to negotiate the release of her employee, a technician at a northern industrial complex jointly run by North and South Korea.

Cheney Uncloaks His Frustration With Bush

‘Statute of Limitations Has Expired’ on Many Secrets, Former Vice President Says

By Barton Gellman

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, August 13, 2009

In his first few months after leaving office, former vice president Richard B. Cheney threw himself into public combat against the “far left” agenda of the new commander in chief. More private reflections, as his memoir takes shape in slashing longhand on legal pads, have opened a second front against Cheney’s White House partner of eight years, George W. Bush.

Cheney’s disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues. By habit, he listens more than he talks, but Cheney broke form when asked about his regrets.

Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, convicted of Lockerbie bombing, ‘to be released’



From The Times

August 13, 2009

 Charlene Sweeney

Speculation was growing last night that the Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is to be released next week.

Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, who is suffering from prostate cancer, is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years for his part in the attack, which claimed the lives of 270 people more than 20 years ago.

The BBC reported that al-Megrahi is to be freed following talks between UK and Libyan officials earlier this week.

The broadcaster claimed the speed of the transfer was to allow al-Megrahi to be home in time for the beginning of Ramadan, the annual Muslim fast.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Founder of Special Olympics, Dies at 88

By CARLA BARANAUCKAS

Published: August 11, 2009

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a member of one of the most prominent families in American politics and a trailblazer in the effort to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, died early Tuesday morning at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass. She was 88. Her death, at 2 a.m., was confirmed by her family in a statement. A family friend said that Mrs. Shriver had been in declining health for months, having suffered a series of strokes.

A sister of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy and the mother-in-law of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Mrs. Shriver never held elective office. Yet she was no stranger to Capitol Hill, and some view her work on behalf of the mentally retarded, including the founding of the Special Olympics, as the most lasting of the Kennedy family’s contributions.

With jobs harder to find, work gets easier for Army recruiters

Traditionally the Army has attracted the young. But as the number of jobs dwindles across the country, more Americans are enlisting later in life, drawn by the promise of steady work and benefits.

By Alexandra Zavis

August 11, 2009

If you’re looking for Michael March, he’s probably in the basement, slogging on the treadmill. Or he may be doing push-ups in front of the TV.

At 38, he wants to be prepared when he begins Army basic training later this week.

“I know I’m going to get picked on as the old guy in boot camp,” he said. “I don’t want to be last.”

Traditionally the Army has attracted the young, many of them fresh out of high school. They join for the promise of adventure, the chance to be part of something bigger, and a free college education. But as the number of jobs dwindles across the country, more Americans are enlisting later in life, drawn by the promise of steady work and generous benefits.

Although March may not be as fit as he was in his teens, his recruiters in Torrance say he brings to the Army experience and maturity that younger soldiers lack.

American found guilty of entering Suu Kyi’s home



The Associated Press

Tuesday, August 11, 2009; 2:50 AM

YANGON, Myanmar — A Myanmar court has sentenced American John Yettaw to seven years in prison, including four years at hard labor, for entering pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s home while she was under house arrest.

The 53-year-old Yettaw was found guilty Tuesday of violating the terms of Suu Kyi’s detention by swimming to her lakeside home uninvited and staying for two days.

Preparing for Swine Flu’s Return

New Wave Expected After Virus Flourished in Southern Hemisphere

By Rob Stein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, August 10, 2009

As the first influenza pandemic in 41 years has spread during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter over the past few months, the United States and other northern countries have been racing to prepare for a second wave of swine flu virus.

At the same time, international health authorities have become increasingly alarmed about the new virus’s arrival in the poorest, least-prepared parts of the world.

While flu viruses are notoriously capricious, making any firm predictions impossible, a new round could hit the Northern Hemisphere within weeks and lead to major disruptions in schools, workplaces and hospitals, according to U.S. and international health officials.

Film Festival in the Cross Hairs



 By DAN LEVIN

Published: August 9, 2009

BEIJING – The Chinese flag that defaced the Melbourne International Film Festival’s hacked Web site on July 25 came with a warning: “We like film but we hate Rebiya Kadeer! We like peace and we hate East Turkistan terrorist! Please apologize to all the Chinese people!”

A week later 400 Internet users, many traced to China, knocked out the ticketing system on the site, melbournefilmfestival.com.au, in a series of attacks that made it appear as if 125 screenings at the Australian festival were sold out. The cyber assaults and other actions were a protest against the appearance of Ms. Kadeer, the Uighur leader, at a screening on Saturday of “The 10 Conditions of Love,” a documentary about her life.