u.s. colonel advocates military attacks on partisan media

“Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media. Perceiving themselves as superior beings, journalists have positioned themselves as protected-species combatants. But freedom of the press stops when its abuse kills our soldiers and strengthens our enemies.” RETIRED US ARMY COL. RALPH PETERS. Full article.

Obama Suggests He’ll Use ‘Preventive Detention’

preventive detention = thought policing = orwell’s 1984

In Closed-Door Meeting With Rights Groups, Obama Suggests He’ll Use ‘Preventive Detention’

Just when you think President Obama’s policies on war, civil liberties and Guantanamo couldn’t possibly look any more like the Bush/Cheney regime’s than they already do, the administration goes ahead and proves you dead wrong. In a meeting Wednesday with several human rights groups including the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Human Rights Watch, Obama said he was “mulling the need for a ‘preventive detention’ system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried,” according to two participants in the “private session.” Full article.

Senate Votes To Block Funds For Guantanamo Closure

what???

Senate Votes To Block Funds For Guantanamo Closure

WASHINGTON — In a rare, bipartisan defeat for President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the United States. Full article.

Obama administration threatens Britain to keep torture evidence concealed

Ever since he was released from Guantanamo in February after six years of due-process-less detention and brutal torture, Binyam Mohamed has been attempting to obtain justice for what was done to him. But his torturers have been continuously protected, and Mohamed’s quest for a day in court repeatedly thwarted, by one individual: Barack Obama. Today, there is new and graphic evidence of just how far the Obama administration is going to prevent evidence of the Bush administration’s torture program from becoming public. Full Article.

Afghan Villagers Describe Chaos of U.S. Strikes

wish we would channel the passion and energy aroused by the torture photographs into stopping the horrible war in afghanistan – thousands of civilians killed (including large numbers of children), more than 1.3 million people displaced and turned into refugees in pakistan. will it take graphic pictures to create some interest and revitalize the anti-war movement?

Afghan Villagers Describe Chaos of U.S. Strikes – NYTimes.com

war in afghanistan

Dave Lindorff: Obama Channels Cheney

“The truth is always better than a cover-up, and what we now have the president advocating is a cover-up of American torture. But that’s only part of the president’s slide into Cheneyism. We have the president now calling for the possible indefinite detention of terror suspects–an idea that only insures that there will always be an incentive for recruiting more terrorists (to avenge those in captivity)–and that makes a joke of our own Constitution, which guarantees everyone–not just citizens–the right to a trial, the right to a presumption of innocence, and protection from “cruel and unusual punishment,” which indefinite detention certainly is.” Full article.

the end of america

last section of an 8 part series, “the end of america”, written by naomi wolf. on the loss of civil liberties: “civil liberties don’t swing back like other issues. civil liberties is a v precious commodity, when u lose them, it tends to run out of ur hand like sand and it’s hard to get it back” (jonathan turley, constitutional law expert).

Obama’s Axis of Obedience

good analysis:

Conflating Afghanistan and Pakistan
Obama’s Axis of Obedience
By PAUL WOLF

“The question at hand is not whether Pakistan is on the verge of a takeover by reactionary religious extremists from Afghanistan. It is not. Conflating the situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan only confuses people. Pakistan is, however, experiencing an extraordinary upheaval of popular discontent. In a word, it’s the emergence of democracy. Left on its own, the Pakistani army could probably crush the resistence. But with Washington’s help, nearly anything is possible. The real question is, what form will the next series of political changes take.” Full article here.

Chris Floyd: A Full-Court Press for Pakistan War

finally someone who sees it clearly – the case that is being built for war in pakistan. nothing new. same MO: the press creates gradual hysteria (although everything seemed to be alright in pakistan when the swine flu first struck), the military experts start coming out of their holes to sell the war, the govt starts talking about where the next terror attack will come from and how we need to preempt, and finally the public comes to believe that there is no other solution – war is inevitable. do we have such short memories? we just went thru this same process with bush and iraq?

Rolling Out the Product Again
A Full-Court Press for Pakistan War
By CHRIS FLOYD

We asked for signs,
And signs were sent.

— Leonard Cohen, “Anthem”

We are now in the midst of a full-blown campaign to “roll out the product” for a new war: this time, in Pakistan. Anyone who lived through the run-up to the invasion of Iraq should be able to read the signs — anyone, that is, who is not blinded by partisan labels, or by the laid-back cool of a media-savvy leader far more presentable than his predecessor. Full article here.